CAI.TO;  R  i  -'To. 

m  o  LIT  Q)  IN  „ 

/CTATIS    SU/t.  CIRCA     1666. 

(S7j 
• 

^ 


7'  :  -- 


RAMBLINGS 


IN    THE 


ELUCIDATION    OF    THE    AUTOGKAPH 


OF 


MILTON. 


SAMUEL    LEIGH    SOTHEBY,    F.S.A. 

AUTHOR   OF  THE  "PRINCIPIA   TYPOGRAPHICAL 


LONDON: 

PRINTED    FOR    THE    AUTHOR    BY    THOMAS    RICHARDS, 
AND    SOLD    BY    ALL    BOOKSELLERS. 


M.DCCC.LXI. 

'  ria 


57 

AW  I  A) 


Go  FOETH,  MY  FANCY  RAMBL1NGS,  TO  THE  GAZE 

OF  KINDRED  SPIRITS,  AND  TO  CRITICS  FIERCE 

WHO  LOVE  TO  STORM;  ALTHOUGH  THEY  OFTEN  PROVE 

THE  AUTHOR'S  WARMEST  FRIEND.     SHEW  ME  THE  HEART 

THAT  LOVES  NOT  MILTON.    PROVIDENCE  HATH  WELL 

ORDAINED  :  WHATE'ER  THE  PART  HIS  RESTLESS  PEN 

IN  ENGLAND'S  CIVIL  WARS  so  BOLDLY  TOOK, 

HlS   MUSE,- HIS   HEARTHS   BELOV'D,- SHOULD    PROUDLY   RAISE 

A  MONUMENT  ON  MOUNT  PARNASS,  BESIDE 

OUR  SHAKESPEARE,- ENGLAND'S  TRUEST,  GREATEST  BARD. 


S.  LEIGH  S. 


6*24879 


INTRODUCTION. 


WORK  of  above  two  hundred  pages  of  type,  printed 
in  imperial  quarto,  on  the  AUTOGRAPH^  or  MILTON  ! 
The  height  of  absurdity,  doubtless,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  General  Public, — and  then,  what  a  "fanciful" 
Title, — "RAMBLINGS"  in  its  "ELUCIDATION."  Very 
truly  it  may  be  so,  as  the  learned  editor  of  a  widely 
circulated  Journal  of  Literature  pronounced  it.  We  are,  however, 
quite  content  that  the  whole  work  should  be  looked  upon  $&  fanciful. 
What  a  charming  Theme  is  FANCY  !  What  an  amusing  work 
might  be  written  by  such  authors  as  Thackeray,  Dickens,  and  others, 
on  the  Antiquarian,  Archaeological,  Bibliographical,  Biographical, 
Geological,  Palaeological,  Philological,  Physiological,  Theological,  and 
other  Fancies  of  many  learned  authors  !  Was  there  ever  an  active 
mind  that  had  not  some  fancy  or  whim  that  he  dearly  cherished  ? 
Many  have  fancies  without  any  object  or  purpose.  Others,  like  Hamlet 
in  his  feigned  madness,  display  a  degree  of  'method  for  some  good  and 
intelligible  object. 

So  likewise  in  our  humble  fancy,  we  hope  there  will  be  found 


1  AUTOGRAPH.  When  we  make  use  of  the 
word  "Autograph,"  we  mean  it  to  apply  to  the 
general  handwriting  of  the  person  to  whom  it 
refers,  and  not  to  his  mere  signature,  as  is  too 
frequently  understood.  Though  autograph  and 
liolorjrapli  are  synonymous  in  their  general  ac- 
ceptation, the  latter  word  is  not  used  as  applic- 


able only  to  the  signature  of  a  person  in  the 
sense  of  signed,  when  subscribed  to  a  document 
not  in  his  own  handwriting ;  while  the  words 
autograph  letter  would  signify  the  fact  of  the 
whole  being  written  by  the  person  by  whom  it 
was  signed,  whether  he  uses  the  first  or  third 
person. 


IV 


INTRODUCTION. 


some  little  degree  of  method  that  may  interest  the  reader  to  go  on 
from  page  to  page  until  he  arrives  at  the  conclusion  of  our  Ramblings. 

"What  could  induce  you,  Mr.  Sotheby,"  may  argue  some  kind 
friends,  "to  announce  a  work  in  imperial  quarto,  upon  a  subject  that 
might  be  compressed  into  an  octavo  sheet,  or  in  an  article  in  one  of 
the  volumes  issued  by  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London,  of 
which  you  have  the  honour  of  being  a  Member.  The  one  might  be 
published  for  a  few  shillings ;  but  the  other  plan  would  answer  all 
your  purpose,  for  the  public  care  very  little  or  nothing  about  the 
AUTOGRAPH  of  MILTON." 

We  are  very  sorry  to  incur  the  displeasure  of  those  who  would 
have  persuaded  us  to  desist  from  a  pursuit  wherein  we  have  endea- 
voured to  invest  the  subject  with  somewhat  more  interest  than  might 
be  expected,  in  the  mere  research  as  to  whether  certain  existing  do- 
cuments and  papers  are  in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet,  or  written  by 
his  Amanuenses. 

Apologising  for  this  preamble,  we  desire,  first,  to  make  known  the 
origin  of  these  our  fanciful  ramblings;  and  then  to  show  how,  from 
one  day's  rambling  to  another,  we  journeyed  over  much  ground,  find- 
ing, as  we  daily  progressed,  a  great  accumulation  of  interesting  glean- 
ings, no  portion  of  which  we  could,  on  any  consideration,  cast  on  the 
wayside,  without  materially  affecting  the  successful  gathering  of  the 
whole. 

In  1858  our  attention  was  drawn  to  a  signature  of  Milton  ap- 
pended to  the  deed  described  at  page  129  in  the  present  work.  That 
document  was  in  the  collection  of  Autographic  Relics  of  the  Departed 
Great,  belonging  to  the  late  Mr.  Singer;  whose  learning,  elegant  taste, 
and  judgment  in  all  matters  connected  with  the  early  literature  of  the 
enlightened  world,  are  well  known  and  duly  appreciated.  The  Relic 
had  been  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Singer  for  many  years,  and  he  prided 
himself  as  being  the  owner  of  one  of  the  most  interesting  AUTOGRAPH 
SIGNATURES  OF  MILTON  extant.  The  moment  we  saw  it,  we  recognized 
the  same  hand  as  had  been  employed  in  the  writing  of  the  long  lost 
manuscript  work  of  the  Poet's,  "  DE  DOCTRINA  CHRISTIANA";  of  which, 
in  1815,  the  Right  Reverend  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Winchester  had  issued 
a  translation,  accompanied  with  some  fac-similes  of  the  original.  The 
learned  Mr.  Singer,  forgetting  that  the  lately  discovered  work  of  Milton 


INTBODUCTION. 


was  written  long  after  he  was  totally  blind,  and,  consequently,  then 
unable  to  write,  considered  that  the  writing  of  that  manuscript  was 
in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet;  and,  therefore,  that  it  proved  the  signa- 
ture to  the  document  in  his  possession  to  be  autograph, — an  opinion 
strengthened,  as  he  thought,  from  the  fact  of  its  being  attached  to 
a  paper  issued  by  an  Office  of  Government  with  the  words,  "  Witness 
my  hand  this  day,  May,  1660/' 

Such  was  a  very  natural  conclusion,  the  more  so,  when  the 
circumstance  that  the  Poet  was  at  that  time  blind  was  overlooked;  a 
conclusion  which  also  for  the  time  misled  us.  Mr.  Singer  was  much 
chagrined  at  the  idea  of  our  disputing  the  autographic  character  of 
the  signature.  The  result,  therefore,  was  that,  in  his  collection,  dis- 
persed that  year,  the  document  was  sold  as  bearing  the  genuine 
handwriting  of  the  Poet,  nobody  entertaining  any  other  opinion,  or, 
at  least,  if  they  did,  they  did  not  make  the  same  known.  They  pro- 
bably hesitated,  in  order,  that,  should  it  prove  otherwise,  they  might 
claim  the  distinction  of  having  always  entertained  a  contrary  view. 

In  1859,  there  appeared  in  the  sale  catalogue  of  the  collection  of 
Manuscripts  formed  by  the  late  Mr.  Dawson  Turner,  what  pur- 
ported to  be  the  autographic  receipt  of  the  Poet  in  1669,  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  third  five  pounds  he  had  received  from  Simmons  for  the 
copyright  of  his  Paradise  Lost.  When  we  saw  the  fac-simile  of  that 
document,  we  felt  certain,  that  neither  that  nor  the  signature  to  the 
Singer  document  could  be  in  the  autograph  of  Milton. 

We  then  entered  into  an  investigation  of  all  the  known  Manu- 
scripts considered  to  be  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Poet,  and  soon  dis- 
covered, that  the  well-known  original  document  for  the  sale  in  1667  of 
the  Paradise  Lost  of  Milton,  preserved  in  the  Manuscript  Department 
of  the  British  Museum,  did  not  bear  the  autograph  signature  of  Milton ; 
the  document  itself  being  either  an  attested  copy,  or,  if  the  original,  the 
signature  was  subscribed  by  procuration,  owing  to  the  Poet  being  at 
that  period  ^otally  blind. 

This  induced  us  to  extend  our  inquiries,  and  to  visit  Oxford ; 
where,  through  the  kindness  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Bandinel,  we  were 
enabled  to  increase  our  knowledge  of  the  Poet's  penmanship,  so 
remarkably  exemplified  in  the  specimens  preserved  in  the  Bodleian 
Library,  given  in  fac-simile,  plate  xvn. 


VI 


INTRODUCTION. 


So  likewise  at  Cambridge :  where  through  the  kind  aid  of  the 
Master  and  Fellows  of  Trinity  College,  we  were  permitted  to  make  use 
of  that  volume  in  which  Milton  had  written  the  majority  of  his 
detached  poems  from  the  year  1631  until  1650 ;  an  amanuensis  and 
friends,  after  that  period,  having  been  employed,  owing  to  the  failure 
of  the  sight  of  the  poet. 

Thus  led  on  by  the  confiding  manner  in  which  all  the  existing 
manuscripts  of  Milton  were  placed  in  our  hands;  we  found  that  we  had 
accumulated  materials,  which,  we  thought,  if  digested  in  some  kind  of 
form,  might  make  an  interesting  work.  We  had  no  desire  to  enter 
the  field  as  an  addition  to  the  numerous  Biographers  of  the  Poet ; 
but  we  saw  that,  in  order  to  come  to  any  satisfactory  result  touching 
the  autograph  of  the  Poet,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  that  we  should 
become  acquainted  with  all  the  details  known  of  his  eventful  life. 
Accordingly,  we  perused  the  labours  of  his  biographers,  noting,  by  the 
way,  everything  that  would  at  all  tend  to  elucidate  the  subject  upon 
which  we  were  engaged.  We  soon  found  that  there  was  very  little 
original  information  in  any  of  the  Memoirs  of  Milton  ;  the  materials 
of  all  the  labours  of  his  biographers  having  been  collected  from  the 
autobiography1  of  the  Poet,  though  in  most  cases  put  forth  as  the  result 
of  research,  the  biographers  merely  enlarging  and  altering  the  language 
according  to  their  abilities.  Of  course,  we  allude  only  to  the  minute 
biographical  details,  not  at  all  entering  into  the  views  entertained  by 
those  learned  authors  of  the  character  of  Milton,  or  of  the  merit  of  his 
writings.  However  much  we  mav  agree  in  the  general  opinion  of  the 
injustice  done  to  Milton  by  the  Leviathan  Johnson;  no  one  can  read 
the  Memoir  of  the  Poet  from  the  pen  of  such  a  man,  without  being 
charmed  with  the  elegant  diction  by  which  either  his  admiration  or 
dispraise  of  the  Poet  is  recorded.  So  likewise  with  the  great  Macaulay, 
and  some  few  others  of  the  Miltonian  Biographers  and  Essayists.  We 
much  regret  that  we  have  not  heard  the  essay  on  Milton  so  success- 
fully delivered  by  the  Rev.  and  Learned  J.  M.  Bellew,  whose  power  of 
delineating  character  and  whose  beautiful  language  have  been  rarely 
surpassed. 


1  See  pp.  26-31,  where  many  interesting  portions  of  it  are  given  in  full. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Vll 


|HE  lamentable  Shakesperian  Controversy  that  has  of  late 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  Literary  World,  has  shown 
what  a  diversity  of  opinion  arises  respecting  the  age  and 
genuineness  of  handwriting,  even  among  those  whose  whole 
lives  have  been  devoted  to  the  study  of  Palaeology. 

If,  when  a  question  arises  upon  the  identity  of  handwriting  with 
that  executed  by  the  same  person  at  an  earlier  period  of  his  life,  or, 
under  circumstances  which  may  have  influenced  the  style  of  the  writ- 
ing, persons  would  take  the  trouble  to  refer  to  what  must  daily  come 
before  them,  much  of  that  remarkable  red-tapeism  and  circuitous 
argument  of  the  learned  and  professed  Paleeologist  would  be  found 
superfluous. 

The  fact  is  one  that  may  be  exemplified  by  almost  every  person 
in  the  daily  occurrences  of  life;  but,  it  often  happens,  that  the  more 
simple  the  means  of  ascertaining  causes  by  the  use  of  a  little  common 
sense,  the  more  frequently  they  are  overlooked. 

Comparatively,  few  persons  adopt  any  other  than  the  ordinary 
handwriting  they  use  in  their  daily  transactions.  Their  writing  does 
not  vary  throughout  their  lives  more  than  by  its  failure  in  precision  and 
boldness,  as  their  physical  powers  decay.  Of  this  fact  numerous  in- 
stances might  be  illustrated  by  fac-similes ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
many  examples  might  be  given  of  the  handwriting  of  eminent  persons, 
the  character  of  which  is  totally  different  at  various  periods  of  their 
lives.  More  remarkable  instances  could  not  be  adduced  than  in  the 
autograph  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  of  Charles  I. 

The  great  reformer  MELANCHTHON,  on  forwarding  his  transcript  in 
Greek  of  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  to  a  friend,  has  recorded,  while  stating1 
that  "  Erasmus,  Budaeus,  Luther,  painted  letters  in  the  best  style,  and 
Capnio  (Reuchlin)  who  wrote  beautifully,  and  loved  the  larger  letters, 
excelled  them  all,"  he  himself  "could  paint  better"  at  an  earlier  period 
of  his  life,  when  his  hand  was  more  free,  and  he  had  more  leisure. 


1  PEINCIPIA  TYPOGRAPHICA.  THE  BLOCK- BOOKS, 
or  Xylographic  Delineations  of  Scripture  His- 
tory, issued  in  Holland,  Flanders,  and  Germany, 
during  the  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY,  in  connexion 
with  the  Origin  of  Printing.  3  vols.  A  work 
contemplated  by  the  late  Samuel  Solheby,  and 


carried  out  by  his  son,  S.  Leigh  Sotheby.  Illus- 
trated inth  one  hundred  and  twenty  large  engrav- 
iinjs,  some  in  colours,  in  exact  fac-simile  of  the 
very  rare  Original  Block-Books.  Small  folio. 
Lond.,  1858. 


via 


INTRODUCTION. 


Such  is  the  inevitable  consequence  with  all,  as  they  draw  near  to 
their  journey's  end.  No  attempt  to  keep  up  the  appearance  of  youth, 
in  whatever  way  it  may  be  exercised,  succeeds.  While  the  mind,  as 
age  creeps  on,  is  blessed  with  a  periodical  renewal  of  strength,  the 
body  ordinarily  ceases  to  receive  that  sustenance  by  which  its  physical 
power  is  developed  in  the  prime  of  life.  In  no  daily  occupation  is  the 
want  of  that  power  more  felt  than  in  the  use  of  the  muscles  of  the 
fingers  in  the  exercise  of  writing. 


|HE  non-employment  of  common  sense  in  all  matters  of 
daily  occurrence  is  what  cannot  but  be  discernible  to 
everybody.  There  are  very  few  subjects  that  even  the  un- 
educated cannot,  by  the  well  directed  use  of  what  nature 
has  bestowed  upon  them,  be  brought  in  some  degree  to  compre- 
hend. Few  topics  that  have  been  discussed  or  written  upon  during 
late  years  are  of  more  interest,  than  the  Age  of  this  Terrestrial  Globe, 
and  its  marvellous  disembowelled  contents,  that  have  been  during  the 
last  forty  years  and  are  daily  being  discovered  by  Geologists. 

We  are,  when  children,  taught  to  believe  that  the  world  was  not 
called  into  existence  until  five  ordinary  days  before  the  Creation  of 
Man.  That  it  was  within  the  period  of  the  twenty-four  hours  of  five 
successive  days,  that  all  which  the  eye  of  mortal  man  is  permitted  to 
see  was  formed  in  the  order  as  related  by  Moses. 

As  we  grow  up,  and  view  all  around  us  under  the  influence  of 
feelings  created  by  the  discoveries  Man  has  been  allowed  to  make  in 
connection  with  the  formation  of  the  earth,  our  common  sense  induces 
us  to  think,  that  the  Sacred  Historian  in  the  two  first  chapters  of  Holy 
Writ,  intended  to  embrace  in  the  opening  words,  "  IN  THE  BEGIN- 
NING," an  amount  of  Heavenly  and  Terrestrial  History,  unnecessary 
for  the  benefit  of  Man  to  be  revealed.  Incalculable  Periods  appear  to 
have  been  passed  over,  in  order  at  once  to  arrive  at  the  history  of 
Mankind  during  the  earlier  part  of  that  dispensation  which  Moses 
was  inspired  to  record. 

Many  months  have  elapsed  since  these  remarks  were  penned.  It 
is  therefore  gratifying  to  notice  the  almost  similar  opinions  of  the 
learned  Mr.  J.  O.  Halliwell,  who,  in  his  Note  on  the  "Essays  and 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 


Reviews",  published  in  the  first  number,  April,  1861,  of  The  St.  James's 
Magazine,  writes,  "  If  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Genesis  had  com- 
menced his  account  with  a  geological  description  of  the  world,  con- 
sonant with  modern  discovery,  nothing  but  the  interposition  of  a 
continuous  miracle,  commencing  from  the  time  that  book  was  pro- 
mulgated until  that  in  which  such  a  description  could  have  been 
understood,  would  have  saved  the  work  from  destruction,  and  its 
human  author  from  being  considered  as  an  impostor." 

One  simple  fact  alone  in  forming  an  opinion  as  to  the  Antiquity 
of  the  Inhabited  World  ought  of  itself  to  convince  any  thinking  mind, 
that  we  are  exceedingly  ignorant  upon  that  subject,  and  very  properly 
so.  That  such  was  the  intention  of  the  Almighty,  the  silence  of  Our 
Saviour,  the  Prophets,  and  all  the  Inspired  Writers  of  Holy  Writ, 
sufficiently  confirms.  Beyond  mentioning,  in  one  or  two  instances,  the 
" round  world"  few  are  the  passages,  either  in  the  Old  or  in  the  New 
Testament,  that  bear  on  the  subject  in  such  a  way  as  to  enlighten  the 
inquirer.  The  world  is  generally  believed  to  have  been  created 
only  about  5500  years  ago.  The  Great  Pyramid  at  Gizeh  was  built 
about  1080  years  before  Christ.  It  has  stood  the  ravages  of  nearly 
3000  years  without  sustaining  the  smallest  injury,  beyond  the  mere 
decay  of  its  exterior  coating,  which,  proportionably,  is  far  less  than 
the  mere  covering  of  cement  over  the  bricks  of  a  modern  house 
receives  in  fifty  years. 

There  the  Pyramid  stands,  and  there  it  will  no  doubt  remain  until 
the  end  of  This  Dispensation,  as  the  most  marvellous  existing  Monu- 
ment of  the  Work  of  Man.  Let  the  mind  place  side  by  side  with  that 
monster  Sepulchre,  one  of  the  Mountains  of  the  Pyrenees,  rearing  its 
head  many  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea — a  mountain 
rising  in  the  form  of  a  Pyramid,  and  fundamentally  composed  of  that 
granite  which,  forming,  as  universally  allowed  by  all  geologists,  the 
basis  of  the  earth,  while  its  sides  are  coated  with  the  several  strata 
of  deposit  found  to  correspond  in  all  their  minutiae  in  almost  every 
part  of  the  globe.  With  these  objects  before  his  mind's  eye,  it  will 
not  require  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  writings  of  the  Great 
Geologists,  to  enable  any  man  gifted  with  common  sense,  to  arrive,  by 
analogy,  at  a  conclusion,  that,  if  the  GREAT  PYRAMID,  formed  of 
perishable  materials  by  the  HAND  of  MAN,  has  thus  stood  uninjured, 


INTRODUCTION. 


the  MOUNTAIN,  as  the  PROGRESSIVE  WORK  of  NATURE,  may  fairly 
claim  an  existence  far  beyond  the  limit  assigned  to  its  creation 
according  to  the  literal  interpretation  of  the  Sacred  Historian. 

The  more  recent  discoveries  of  the  preservation  of  even  some  of 
the  luxuries  of  civilization;  such  as  the  perishable  ivory  combs,  used 
by  ladies,  from  the  excavations  of  Nineveh, — a  city  claiming  a  much 
higher  antiquity  than  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt, — may  fairly  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  point  advocated.  The  preservation  of  such  materials 
no  doubt  depends  upon  their  position  and  on  the  climate  of  the 
country.  The  most  fragile  objects  that  were  placed  four  thousand  years 
since  in  the  Tombs  of  Egypt,  into  which  the  waters  of  the  Nile  have 
not  penetrated,  are  found  to  be  almost  in  their  pristine  state,  while 
stone  objects  in  the  same  country  are,  from  the  annual  inundations, 
often  in  a  state  of  decomposition.  The  perishable  relics  from  Nineveh 
have  been  for  the  most  part  taken  from  the  debris  of  the  Palaces 
which  were  destroyed  by  fire,  and  therefore  their  preservation  is 
more  remarkable  than  that  of  the  relics  of  civilization  found  in  the 
Tombs  of  Egypt  and  Etruria. 


|N  connection  with  this  subject,  it  is  also  remarkable,  that 
while  the  Museums  of  Europe  abound  with  almost  all  the 
manufactured  works  of  early  civilisation,  yet  in  this 
country  not  one  has  ever  been  found  in  any  way  to  prove 
the  period  when  those  marvellous  Monoliths  on  the  Plains  of  Salis- 
bury were  erected,  or  to  throw  a  light  upon  the  people  who  inhabited 
that  and  other  parts  of  the  world,  where  innumerable  monuments  of 
a  similar  character  abound.  All  is  a  matter  of  speculation  and  con- 
troversy. 

Many  learned  authors  consider  the  relation  of  Historians  respect- 
ing the  DRUIDS  as  a  MYTH.  Providence  having  permitted  us  to  make 
the  country,  around  which  there  exist  innumerable  relics  of  the  early 
inhabitants  of  this  land,  our  residence ;  we  cannot  but  take  the 
greatest  interest  in  all  matters  that  in  any  way  bear  upon  the  eluci- 
dation of  a  PEOPLE  of  whose  existence  the  monuments  around  record 
unmistakable  evidence.  On  taking  possession  of  this,  our  Homestead, 


INTEODUCTION.  xi 


THE  ABBEY  of  BUCKFASTLEIGH,  SOUTH  DEVON,  we  anticipate  the 
greatest  pleasure,  ere  long,  of  passing  with  a  few  Antiquarian  Friends, 
a  FORTNIGHT'S  RAMBLING  ON  DARTMOOR  ;  and,  it  will  be  hard, — 
even  after  the  personal  researches  of  so  eminent  a  man  as  SIR  JOHN 
GARDNER  WILKINSON,  the  Egyptian  Traveller  and  Historian, — if  we 
cannot  find  something  that  will  repay  the  more  learned  of  our  Com- 
panions in  their  Archaeological  Jottings,  while  our  humble  part  will 
be  to  supply  the  comforts  of  life,  aided  by  the  Rod  in  the  pursuit  of 
Dartmoor  Trout. 

The  learned  Sir  John  Gardner  Wilkinson  has,  in  "the  Journal 
of  the  British  Archceological  Association"  for  June  1860,  given  a  most 
interesting  article  "  On  the  Rock-Basins  of  Dartmoor,  and  some 
British  Remains  in  England."  Having  touched  upon  the  fact  of  the 
existence  of  the  DRUIDS  being  mythical,  we  cannot  abstain  from 
giving  the  opinion  of  so  learned  a  man  as  Sir  John  Gardner  Wilkinson 
on  that  point ;  an  opinion  in  which  he  very  properly  brings  common 
sense  to  bear.  He  writes  : — 

"  The  question  may  not  be  one  of  very  great  importance  ;  but 
there  is  another  which  ought  to  interest  us,  and  this  is  the  name  and 
religious  rites  of  the  people  by  whom  the  many  ancient  monuments  in 
Britain  were  erected  ;  and  as  some  have  doubted  the  very  existence 
of  Druids  and  their  religion  in  this  country,  it  may  not  be  irrelevant 
to  inquire  on  what  authority  those  doubts  have  been  raised.  It  is  the 
tendency  of  the  day  to  call  in  question  whatever  has  been  hitherto 
credited  :  some,  therefore,  not  satisfied  with  doubting  the  antiquity  of 
every  ruin  of  early  times,  have  affected  to  disbelieve  the  accounts 
handed  down  to  us  by  Roman  writers  concerning  the  Britons,  their 
priesthood,  and  their  customs;  though  I  must  confess  that  such  doubts 
amount  to  something  more  than  mere  scepticism,  when  we  have  nu- 
merous records  of  a  people  whose  ortholithic  circles  still  remain  at 
Stonehenge,  A  bury,  Stanton-Drew,  Arbe-Low,  and  many  places  in 
Cornwall,  Devonshire,  Cumberland,  and  various  parts  of  this  country, 
as  well  as  in  Wales  and  Scotland,  together  with  cromlechs  and  various 
monuments  ;  and  when  similar  records  are  found  in  France  and  other 
countries  once  inhabited  by  tribes  professing  the  same  religion,  and 
offsets  of  the  same  race  as  the  early  Britons. 

"  If  we  are  not  to  trust  to  the  authority  of  Roman  writers  who 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 


mention  the  Druids,  what  is  to  be  our  guide  ?  And  if  History  is  to 
be  unceremoniously  put  aside,  on  what  are  we  to  depend  for  any 
information  respecting  the  inhabitants,  the  manners,  and  the  religion 
of  Britain  and  Gaul,  or  the  state  of  any  other  country  of  Antiquity  ? 
We  may  at  once  cease  to  read  history,  if  mere  speculations  are  to 
take  its  place.  We  have  circumstantial  accounts  of  the  existence  of 
Britons  and  of  Druids  in  our  island,  of  the  stand  they  made  in  defence 
of  their  sacred  retreats,  and  of  some  of  their  ceremonies:  at  all  events, 
they  were  in  Britain  when  the  Romans  first  landed,  and  when  they 
afterwards  conquered  the  country.  And  if  not  to  them,  to  whom  are 
these  strange  monuments  to  be  attributed  ?" 


|O  return  to  the  subject  of  Handwriting :  the  learned 
Palseologist  occasionally  avows, — unmindful  of  the  well- 
known  proverb  of  Solomon,  which  is  daily  verified, — that 
the  origin  and  progress  of  writing  during  the  several 
phases  of  its  employment,  can  only  be  ascertained  by  the  formation 
of  particular  letters.  It  will  no  doubt  be  considered  very  presump- 
tuous in  one,  not  brought  up  to  the  study  of  Palseology,  even  to 
venture  a  remark  upon  such  a  point.  Experience  has  shewn  how 
widely  in  all  such  matters  the  most  learned  differ  in  their  opinions. 
The  late  W.  Young  Ottley — than  whom  there  existed,  as  contemporary, 
no  one  possessing  more  general  knowledge — devoted  much  labour  in 
showing  that  a  manuscript  of  ARATUS  was  written  in  the  Second  or 
Third  Century,  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  almost  all  who  examined 
the  volume.  Mr.  Ottley  was  a  man  of  a  most  determined  character; 
one  who,  entering  on  any  pursuit,  followed  it  with  enthusiasm,  and, 
generally,  with  great  judgment  and  accuracy.  One  of  his  last  acts 
in  connection  with  his  worldly  pursuits,  when  on  his  death  bed,  was 
to  get  the  writer  of  these  observations  to  examine  some  newly 
discovered  uncial  letters  in  the  Manuscript  Department  of  the  British 
Museum,  believing  that  they  would  confirm  the  views  he  had  pro- 
pounded in  respect  to  the  Manuscript  of  Aratus. 


INTRODUCTION. 


xni 


ilHOUGH  one  of  the  Lions  at  Cambridge  is  the  MILTON 
VOLUME  preserved  in  Trinity  College  Library,  few,  compa- 
ratively, are  the  persons  who  have  minutely  examined  its 
contents  ;  the  visitors,  and  perhaps  even  many  of  the  bio- 
graphers of  the  Poet,  and  editors  of  his  Works,  being  satisfied  with  a 
passing  look  at  it  in  the  glass  case  in  which  it  is  placed.  It  is  a 
volume  of  surpassing  interest,  such  as  I  could  not  view,  without 
feeling  a  desire,  that  all  who  venerate  the  Poetic  Genius  of  Milton, — and 
few  are  there  who  do  not, — should  have  the  opportunity  of  possessing 
fac-similes  of  the  most  interesting  portions  of  the  volume.  Consequently, 
when  my  wish  was  met  with  so  kind  an  acquiescence  on  the  part  of 
the  Master  and  Fellows  of  Trinity  College,  I  could  not  satisfy  myself, 
without  having  many  of  the  pages  most  accurately  taken  in  fac- 
simile, such  as  would  of  themselves  have  formed  a  most  interesting 
work. 

Those  fac-similes  will,  we  believe,  bear  the  strictest  examination. 
Fac-similes  should  be  what  they  profess  to  be;  otherwise,  they  are 
worthless  for  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  made.  During  the 
last  few  years  there  have  been  published  "  REPRODUCTIONS  IN  FAC- 
SIMILE," by  M.  BERJEAU,  of  the  BIBLIA  PAUPERUM,  and  the  CANTICUM 
CANTICORUM, — BLOCK-BOOKS.  They  are  little  more  than  tracings,  not 
in  any  way  shewing  the  merit  of  the  Designs,  or  the  skill  of  the  Wood 
Engraver.  They  do  not  merit  the  name  of  fac-similes.  As  reproduc- 
tions of  the  contents  of  the  works  they  are  most  valuable  ;  the  more 
so,  as  the  introduction  of  Mr.  Berjeau  prefixed  to  each  work  displays 
great  bibliographical  research,  but  not  great  liberality  respecting  the 
opinions  of  his  fellow  labourers.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  that  in  the  event 
of  M.  Berjeau  issuing  a  reproduction  of  the  SPECULUM  HUMANE  SAL- 
VATIONIS,  as  announced,  he  will  employ  a  professional  artist  to  make 
the  fac-similes  of  the  work,  instead  of  employing  his  own  unskilled 
hand-;  contenting  himself  with  enlightening  his  readers  with  a 
detailed  description  of  the  text  of  the  work. 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION. 


i|AVING,  in  our  early  Ramblings,  made  fac-similes  of  ten 
pages  from  the  Miltonian  volume  at  Cambridge,  we 
soon  found  other  documents  of  interest,  which  led  us, 
most  unintentionally  in  the  first  instance,  to  extend  our 
pursuit.  To  observe  upon  the  assistance  derived  from  the  confiding 
manner  in  which  the  various  documents  were  placed  in  our  hands, 
would  most  certainly  afford  us  a  further  opportunity  of  expressing  our 
thankful  acknowledgments  offered  in  our  work.  We  cannot,  however, 
omit  the  opportunity  of  mentioning  the  joy  we  felt  at  being  permitted 
to  make  use  of  the  almost  forgotten  Miltonian  Relic  in  the  possession 
of  William  Baker,  Esquire,  of  Bayfordbury,  Herts.  We  allude  to  the 
Original  Manuscript  of  the  First  Book  of  PARADISE  LOST,  which  was 
forwarded  to  the  Authorities,  to  be  read  previous  to  its  being  licensed 
for  Printing.  The  history  of  that  interesting  manuscript  is  fully 
given  at  pp.  196-9,  together  with  a  fac-simile  of  a  portion  of  it.  But, 
in  addition  to  this  kindness  of  Mr.  Baker,  he  has  permitted  us  to  call 
in  the  aid  of  Messrs.  Caldesi  and  Blandford  to  present  to  the  pur- 
chasers of  this  work  a  faithful  photograph  of  the  only  really  good 
portrait  of  Milton  extant, — a  portrait  taken  from  the  life,  ere  the 
features  of  the  Poet  had  become  changed  by  the  inward  sorrow  of  his 
later  days. 

But  we  must  not  forget  the  BUST  OF  MILTON,  preserved  at  Christ's 
College,  Cambridge,  a  bust  taken  from  life  about  twelve  years  earlier. 
Here  again  we  are  called  upon  to  offer  our  thanks  to  the  Master, 
Dr.  Cartmell,  and  to  the  Fellows  of  that  College,  for  their  kind  per- 
mission in  granting,  for  the  first  time,  a  photograph  of  that  interest- 
ing Memorial  of  the  Poet  to  be  taken.  We  now  avail  ourselves  of  the 
opportunity  of  presenting  to  our  readers  an  account  of  that  interesting 
Bust,  as  also  of  the  Portrait  in  the  possession  of  William  Baker,  Esq., 
the  Photographs  from  which  precede  the  title  of  our  work. 


INTRODUCTION. 


XV 


THE  BUST  OF  MILTON,  TAKEN  FROM  LIFE,  ABOUT  1652. 

JR.  Disney,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  copy  of  the  Prose 
Works  of  Milton,  4to.,  1753,  which  he  presented  to  the 
Library  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  has  noted,  among 
other  interesting  matter,  the  subjoined  memorandum  re- 
specting the  bust  of  Milton  presented  about  forty-five  years  ago  at 
his  request  to  that  College. 

"  3.  A  Bust  in  plaster  modelled  from,  and  big  as  life,  now  in  the 
possession  of  Thomas  Hollis  of  Lincolnshire,  done  soon  after  Milton 
had  written  his  Defensio  pro  Populo  Anglicano,  as  some  think  by 
one  Pierce,  a  sculptor  of  good  reputation  in  those  times,  the  same 
who  made  the  bust  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  which  is  in  the  Bodleian 
Library;  or  as  others  by  Abraham  Simon.  A  print  of  this  bust,  very 
badly  designed,  is  prefixed  to  Milton's  Prose  Works,  published  at 
London,  1753." 

The  above  is  all  the  information  that  we  are  enabled  to  gather 
respecting  the  only  authentic  Bust  of  the  Poet ;  with  which,  beyond 
the  engraving  by  Vertue,  from  a  bad  design  by  J.  Richardson,  and 
another  equally  unsatisfactory  engraving,1  the  public  generally  have 
hitherto  been  unacquainted. 


JIHE  Bust  bears  evidence  of  having  been  the  cast  taken  from 
the  original  mould2,  without  having  been  under  the  hand 
of  a  sculptor  to  spoil  it,  as  is  frequently  the  case.  The 
flowing  hair,  which,  at  that  time,  formed  a  prominent  fea- 
ture in  the  portrait  of  Milton,  was  afterwards  modelled  and  added  to 
the  bust  cast  from  life.  The  usual  portraits  of  the  Poet  do  not  indi- 
cate the  appearance  of  any  beard  ;  but,  there  is  in  the  bust  the  evident 
impress  of  the  hair  on  the  lower  part  of  the  face. 

There  is,  in  our  humble  opinion,  no  bust  or  portrait  of  the  Poet 


1  One  "drawn  and  etched,  17GO,  by  J.  B. 
Cipriani,  a  Tuscan,  from  a  bust  in  plaster  mo- 
delled from  the  life  ;  now  in  the  possession  of 
Thomas  Hollis,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  F.S.A." 


2  The  bust  does  not  exhibit  any  appearance 
of  having  been  afterwards  recast  for  the  pur- 
pose of  multiplying  it. 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 


extant,  that  conveys  the  nobleness  of  his  character  so  much  as 
that  we  are  now  considering.  There  is  in  it  a  breadth  and  expres- 
sion truly  characteristic  of  a  great  man.  It  reminds  one  of  the  por- 
trait of  Cromwell  engraved  by  Faithorne  ;  a  portrait  expressive  of  a 
determined  mind,  which  once  set  upon  an  object  no  earthly  power 
could  alter.  While,  however,  the  Bust  exhibits  the  high  characteristics 
of  the  Poet,  there  is  a  calmness  about  the  features  that  renders  it 
most  pleasing,  more  particularly  in  the  lips,  which  impart  the  expres- 
sive power  to  the  human  face.  This  feeling  of  fascination  which  the 
bust  produces  may  be  attributed  in  some  degree  to  the  period  of  life 
when  it  was  taken,  the  Poet  being  at  that  time  in  his  very  prime, 
when  he  had  not  arrived  at  the  age  of  fifty ;  whereas  the  Portrait 
engraved  by  Faithorne,  prefixed  to  the  History  of  Great  Britain  by 
Milton,  represents  him  at  the  age  of  sixty-two.  That  portrait  exhibits, 
no  doubt,  a  very  faithful  likeness  of  the  Poet  as  he  then  was,  but  it  is 
most  painfully  interesting.  There  we  have  Milton,  shewing  in  his  very 
countenance  the  grief  that  had  weighed  down  his  then  comparatively 
peaceful  soul.  There  the  remains  of  his  determined  spirit  still  are  to 
be  traced,  but  not  in  the  firmness  as  displayed  in  the  Bust  taken 
when  in  the  zenith  of  his  life.  The  one  commands  admiration,  while 
the  other  excites  our  sympathy. 


PARAGRAPH  in  the  Athenceum  of  10th  August,  1850," 
notes  Mr.  John  Fitchett  Marsh,  at  the  close  of  his  interest- 
ing account  of  the  Portraits  of  Milton,  "  mentions  the  pur- 
chase by  Mr.  Labouchere,  for  200  guineas,  of  a  marble 
bust  of  Milton,  made,  it  is  said,  from  the  life,  by  an  Italian  sculptor 
during  the  Poet's  visit  to  Italy.  Its  history  is  not  stated  ;  but  it  is 
worthy  of  note,  that  Mr.  Thomas  Hollis  was  so  far  impressed  with 
the  belief,  that  there  was  somewhere  in  Florence  a  marble  bust  of 
Milton,  as  to  be  induced  to  make  search  for  it  in  1762,  but  without 
success.  See  Memoirs  of  Thomas  Hollis,  p.  167,  and  Wartoris  Poems, 
p.  333,  ed.  1791." 

Some  years  ago  we  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  a  small  marble  bust 
of  the  Poet,  brought  from  Italy  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Woodward.  It  was, 
we  believe,  pronounced  by  competent  judges  to  be  a  work  of  the 


INTRODUCTION. 


XVll 


period.     On  inquiry,  we  learn  that  it  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Lord 
Taunton. 

In  the  will  of  Alexander  Pope,  printed  at  the  close  of  his  Bio- 
graphy by  Owen  Ruffhead,  edition  1769,  pp.  544-550,  the  Poet  records, 
"I  desire  Mr.  Lyttleton  to  accept  the  busts  of  Spencer,  Shakespear, 
Milton,  and  Dryden,  in  marble,  which  His  Royal  Highness  the  Prince 
was  pleased  to  give  me."  We  are  not  aware  of  the  present  locality 
of  the  bust  of  Milton  here  mentioned. 


THE  PORTRAITS  OF  MILTON. 

T  is  very  gratifying,  when  employed  upon  a  work  which 
one  feels  will  not  be  considered  of  much  interest  to  the 
general  public,  to  find  that  there  are  other  fellow-labour- 
ers who  are  not  disheartened  by  such  a  feeling,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  follow  up  their  researches  with  a 
determined  spirit,  thinking  that  their  pursuit  cannot 
fail  to  be  of  the  same  interest  to  the  whole  world  as  to  themselves. 
Without  such  a  feeling, — call  it  enthusiasm  or  what  you  will, — certain 
it  is,  that  unless  an  author  devotes  his  whole  energy,  and  heartily 
"loves  his  love,"  he  is  little  more  than  one  of  the  evanescent 
employers  of  that  most  useful  piece  of  mechanism,  usually  lying  upon 
the  library  table. 

Whatever  may  be  the  matter  of  inquiry,  whether  historically 
important  or  curious  in  bygone  or  modern  literature ;  or  touching 
politics,  religion,  or  the  amusements  of  life  ;  or  what  would  appear,  at 
first  sight,  of  useless  inquiry,  the  actively  minded  enthusiast  will  not 
fail  to  invest  his  subject  with  an  interest  that  irresistibly  leads  his 
reader  to  the  end  of  it. 

We  have  an  example  DOW  before  us  in  a  brochure1  "  On  the 
Engraved  Portraits  and  the  Pretended  Portraits  of  Milton.  By  John 
Fitehett  Marsh,  Esq.,"  a  gentleman  decidedly  fond  of  early  literature 
and  its  concomitants.  Who  would  suppose  that  since  the  death  of 
Milton  there  have  been  considerably  above  150  portraits  engraved  of 


1  It  is  printed  in  "TJie  Transactions  of  the  Historic  Society  of  Lancashire  and  Cheshire,"  vol.  xii. 
Read  3rd  May,  1860. 


xviii  INTRODUCTION. 


him  ?  With  great  assiduity  Mr.  Marsh  has  succeeded  in  obtaining 
impressions  of  nearly  all  of  them  ;  and  in  describing  them  has  most 
successfully  traced  from  whence  they  have  been  taken. 

PORTRAITS  IN  OIL  ;   FROM  LIFE. 

JF  the  numerous  paintings  and  drawings  that  may  exist  as 
representing  Portraits  of  Milton,  there  are  only  two  tbat 
may  be  considered  as  authentic. 

FIRST.  The  Portrait  of  the  Poet  when  ten  years  old. 
It  is  the  work  of  Janssen,  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Disney. 
It  was  engraved  by  Cipriani,  and  copied  by  others. 

SECOND.  The  Portrait  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  which  was  "  pur- 
chased from  the  executor  of  Milton's  widow  by  Speaker  Onslow."  It 
is  unknown  by  whom  it  was  painted.  It  has  been  frequently  engraved. 
The  portrait  which  appeared  in  the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine," 
1787,  vol.  LVII,  p.  759,  may  have  been  genuine.  It  is  there  stated  to 
have  been  taken  from  a  drawing  made  when  the  Poet  was  twelve 
years  of  age.  As  there  was  no  note  to  whom  the  original  belonged, 
and  its  merest  whereabouts  being  unknown,  it  can  only  be  recorded 
as  a  memorial,  now  lost. 

PORTRAITS  IN  CRAYONS,  ETC.  ;    FROM  LIFE. 

IRST.    The  drawing  made  by  FATTHORNE,  either  before  or  in 
1670,  from  which,  in  that  year,  he  engraved  the  Portrait 
prefixed  to  Milton's  History  of  Great  Britain,  4to.,  published 
in  the  same  year. 
Whether  this  drawing  is  still  in  existence  is  a  matter  of  doubt. 
There  is  no  trace  of  it  after  having  been  in  the  possession  of  Messrs. 
Tonson. 

SECOND.   The  Drawing  in  crayons,  which  was,  in  and  before  1734, 
in  the  possession  of  John  Richardson,  sen.,  etched  several  times  by 
Richardson,  and  engraved,  with  variations,  by  others  subsequently. 
THIRD.   The  Drawing  by  Robert  White,  engraved  by  Simon. 
Mr.  Marsh  has  most  satisfactorily  shown,  that  it  is  from  the  three 
above-mentioned  drawings,  that  the  greater  portion  of  the  ENGRAVED 
PORTRAITS  of  Milton  have  their  origin.     Very  many  of  the  numerous 


INTRODUCTION. 


XIX 


existing  engraved  portraits  of  the  Poet  are  made  up,  some  with  a 
greater  degree  of  truthfulness  than  others,  but  there  are  very  few 
deserving  of  much  commendation  for  their  design  or  execution. 

The  First  Engraved  Portrait  that  appeared  was  taken  from  life. 
It  was  executed  by  Marshall,  from,  we  presume,  a  drawing  made  by 
himself;  but  whether  the  fault  lay  with  the  design  or  with  the 
engraver,  certain  it  is,  that  when  the  portrait  appeared  in  1645,  as  a 
frontispiece  to  the  first  edition  of  the  Poems  of  Milton,  so  unsatis- 
factory was  the  likeness  considered,  that  the  Poet  recorded  its  unfaith- 
fulness in  a  Greek  Epigram,  intitled  " In  effigiei  ejus  sculptorem." 

The  Second  Engraved  Portrait  was  the  work  of  the  celebrated 
FAITHORNE.  It  appeared,  as  stated,  in  1670,  and  was  inscribed  as 
having  been  done  "ad  vivum,"  which,  if  taken  in  that  year,  was 
only  four  years  before  the  death  of  the  Poet.  The  engraving  was 
specially1  made  to  be  prefixed  to  the  work  in  which  it  appeared. 


jHAT  the  ORIGINAL  DRAWING  by  FAITHORNE,  whence,  in 
1670,  he  executed  his  engraving,  was  in  existence  in  1760, 
is  proved  by  the  inscription  to  the  Cipriani  Portrait, — 
"  Drawn  and  etched  MDCCLX,  ly  J.  B.  Cipriani,  a  Tuscan,  at 
the  desire  of  Thomas  Hollis,  from  a  Portrait  in  crayons,  now  in  the 
possession  of  Messrs.  Tonson,  Booksellers  in  the  Strand,  London."  The 
engraving  by  Cipriani  corresponds  more  with  that  engraved  by 
Faithorne,  than  with  the  Richardson  Portrait.  In  the  Memoirs  of 
Thomas  Hollis,  p.  619,  the  one  from  which  Cipriani  made  his  engrav- 
ing is  described  as  "A  drawing  in  crayons,  by  William  Faithorne." 

Strutt,  in  his  Biographical  Dictionary  of  Engravers,  1785,  Ed.  1, 
p.  283,  states,  that  Faithorne  "painted  portraits  from  the  life,  in 
Crayons,  which  art  he  learned  of  Nanteuil,  during  his  abode  in  France." 


1  It  was  first  used  for  "The  History  of  Britain," 
by  John  Milton  ;  published  in  small  4to.,  1670. 
It  is  inscribed,  "  Oul.  Faithorne  ad  Vivum  Delin. 
el  seulpsit.  Joannis  Miltoni  effigies,  »tat.  62, 
1670."  That  such  was  the  case  is  proved  by 
the  portrait  and  the  title-page  forming  the  same 
half  of  the  folio  sheet  of  paper.  I  am  in  the 


possession  of  a  copy  of  the  work  in  the  original 
binding,  in  which  the  paper-mark,  the  Royal 
Arms,  appears  in  part  on  both  leaves.  That  copy 
was  presented  to  me  by  Mrs.  Holland,  as  a 
memorial  of  my  kind  friend,  the  late  Lancelot 
Holland,  Esq.,  of  Beckenham,  Kent,  whose 
library  was  sold  in  Wellington-street,  July  1860. 


d 


INTRODUCTION. 


Vertue,  in  his  Catalogue  of  Engravers,  records,  that  Faithorne  "  made 
crayon  drawings  after  1680,  when  he  had  returned  to  Printing-House- 
Yard,  Blackfriars."  He  died  in  1691. 

In  the  Print  Room  of  the  British  Museum,  among  the  Cracherode 
Collection  of  British  Portraits,  is  one  of  Sir  Orlando  Bridgman,  by 
Faithorne.  It  is  delicately  executed  in  pencil,  slightly  washed  with 
Indian  ink.  The  drapery  is  in  Indian  ink  and  well  drawn,  but  rather 
coarse.  There  is  also  an  Engraving  by  Faithorne  of  the  same  portrait. 
It,  however,  is  of  a  larger  size,  and  though  evidently  engraved  from 
the  drawing,  Faithorne  has  varied  the  expression  of  the  face,  as  also 
the  costume.  The  drawing  is  the  only  one  by  Faithorne  in  the  British 
Museum,  and,  consequently,  as  it  is  not  in  crayons,  we  are  not  enabled 
to  obtain  any  guide  as  to  the  character  or  touch  of  Faithorne's  style 
of  such  work. 


|HE  DRAWING  IN  CRAYONS,  which  was,  in  or  before  the  year 
1734,  in  the  possession  of  J.  Richardson,  sen.,  was  etched 
by  him  on  several  occasions,  with  some  slight  variations, 
according  to  his  fancy.  He  was  a  great  lover  of  Works  of 
Art  and  an  Amateur  Engraver.  In  the  introduction  to  the  "  Ex- 
planatory Notes  and  Remarks  on  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,"  published 
in  1734,  he  states  :  "  The  print  prefixed  shows  the  face  of  him  who 
wrote  Paradise  Lost,  the  face  we  chiefly  desire  to  be  acquainted  with ; 
'tis  done  from  a  picture  which  I  have  reason  to  believe  he  sat  for  not 
long  before  his  death,  I  have  therefore  given  a  little  more  vigour  to 
the  print,  and  but  a  little.  The  complexion  must  be  imagined  as  of 
one  who  had  been  fair  and  fresh  coloured.  Toland  says,  he  was  ruddy 
to  the  last;  my  picture,  and  other  information,  does  not  tell  us  that,  but 
that  he  might  have  been  so  not  long  before.  The  colour  of  his  eyes 
inclined  to  blue,  not  deep  ;  and  though  sightless,  they  were,  as  he 
says  himself,  'clear,  to  outward  view,  of  blemish  or  of  spot/  He  was  told 
so,  and  'tis  certain  thegutta  serena,  (which  was  his  case),  does  not  appear 
to  common  eyes,  and  at  a  little  distance  ;  but  blindness,  even  of  that 
kind,  is  visible  in  the  colour,  motion,  and  look  of  the  eye  which  has 
the  sad  unhappiness  of  being  extinguished  by  it.  'Tis  wonderfully 
expressed  in  the  picture  from  whence  this  print  was  made,  as  well  as 


INTRODUCTION.  xxi 


the  sett  of  the  mouth,  and  the  rest  of  the  air.  I  have  imitated  it  as 
well  as  I  could  in  a  way  of  working  which  I  never  practised  but  on  a 
few  plates,  and  those  in  my  youth,  except  an  attempt  on  one  or  two 
near  twenty  years  ago.  The  laurel  is  not  in  the  picture,  the  two 
lines  under  it  are  my  reasons  for  putting  it  there,  not  what  otherwise 
would  have  been  imagined.  All  the  world  has  given  it  him  long  since." 
Mr.  Marsh  has  had  a  copy  of  this  portrait  engraved,  No.  70,  in 
his  brochure,  the  inscription  to  which  is  :  /.  R.  [Richardson]  sen.  f. 
From  an  excelt.  orig.  (crayon)  in  his  collection!'  Following,  is  another 
portrait  etched  by  Richardson,  described  as  No.  74,  "J.  Richardson,  F" 
at  the  foot  of  which  are  some  verses  signed  "  J.  R.  Jun."  Then  occurs, 
No.  75,  another  Portrait,  "An  Etching,  in  Richardson's  manner,  and 
so  described  by  Granger."  The  latter  may  have  been  one  of  the  etch- 
ings alluded  to,  as  executed  by  J.  Richardson  many  years  previously. 
It  matters,  however,  very  little,  whether  the  etching  was  executed  by 
the  senior  or  younger  Richardson ;  the  important  fact  is,  that,  with 
the  exception  of  the  drapery  being  reversed,  and  a  want  of  expres- 
sion in  the  face,  it  is  a  correct  copy  of  the  drawing  in  crayons  now  in 
the  possession  of  William  Baker,  Esq.,  of  Bayfordbury. 


|HE  ORIGINAL  DRAWING,  by  White,  as  stated  in  the  en- 
graving made  from  it  by  J.  Simon,  inscribed  "  ad  vivum 
delin."  Robert  White  was  an  engraver  who  drew  portraits 
in  black  chalk,  as  stated  in  Vertue's  Catalogue  of  Engravers. 
In  the  Cracherode  Collection  of  British  Portraits  in  the  Print  Room 
of  the  British  Museum,  are  many  executed  by  R.  White.  They  are, 
however,  all  in  pencil,  delicately  executed,  more  as  sketches  than 
finished  drawings,  for  the  purpose  of  engraving  from.  There  is  not 
one  in  black  chalk,  so  that  we  can  form  no  opinion  as  to  the  style  of 
his  portraits  in  chalk. 

There  is  no  date  to  the  engraving  by  Simon.  Robert  White  died 
in  1704 ;  and  as  it  is  hardly  probable  that  he  would  have  consented  to 
any  other  engraver  but  himself  executing  a  work  from  his  own  design, 
we  may  consequently  presume,  that  the  engraving  by  Simon  was  not 
done  until  after  the  death  of  White  in  1704.  Simon  died  in  1753. 


d  2 


XX11 


INTRODUCTION. 


HEN  Mr.  Marsh  proposed  to  himself  the  pleasure  of 
recording  a  note  of  all  the  Engraved  Portraits  of 
Milton  he  had  collected  together,  he  found  that  a  great 
many  of  them  had  their  origin  from  what  had  been 
generally  known  as  "  The  Crayon  Drawing"  taken 
from  the  Life  by  Faithorne  ;  but  which  had  been  by 
many  of  the  Biographers  of  the  Poet  "  confounded"  with  another 
drawing  in  crayons  possessed  by  J.  Richardson,  Sen. 

On  referring  to  the  various  authors  who  had  mentioned  these 
drawings,  Mr.  Marsh  discovered,  what  is  usually  the  case,  that  when 
an  author,  whose  name  carries  with  it  authority,  happens  to  make  a 
mistake,  that  mistake  is  continued  on  by  each  successive  author  when 
writing  upon  the  same  subject,  "  each  adopting  and  adding  to  the 
mistakes  of  his  predecessors  ;"  so  as,  says  Mr.  Marsh,  p.  3,  "  to  produce 
an  amount  of  confusion  from  which  it  is  my  hope  to  assist  in  extricating 
the  subject." 

We  have  previously  stated  that  there  were  taken,  at  probably 
about  the  same  period,  three  Portraits  of  Milton  from  the  Life  :  one 
by  Faithorne  ;  another,  the  "  Richardson"  Drawing,  in  crayons  ;  and 
one  by  White. 

That  the  Drawing  by  Faithorne,  and  also  the  "  Richardson"  crayon 
drawing,  were  in  the  possession  of  Messrs.  Tonson,  the  Booksellers,1  in 
1760,  is  proved,  first,  by  the  fact  of  Cipriani  having  made  a  copy  of 
the  Faithorne  Drawing  previous  to  etching  it ;  and,  secondly,  by  the 
portrait  engraved  by  Miller  from  the  "  Richardson"  crayon  drawing 
being  prefixed  to  Baskerville's  edition  of  Paradise  Lost,  printed  at 
Birmingham  in  1759,  edited  by  Bishop  Newton,  and  published  by  the 
Tonsons. 

Mr.  Marsh  (p.  8,  in  his  Brochure)  considers  Bishop  Newton  to 
have  added  to  the  confusion  that  has  occurred,  in  distinguishing  the 
Faithorne  and  the  "Richardson"  Drawings. 


1  There  are  differences  in  the  design  of  the 
Faithorne  and  Richardson  Portraits.  The  en- 
graving by  Cipriani  corresponds,  as  stated,  p. 
xix,  more  with  that  engraved  by  Faithorne ;  and 
as  the  inscription  beneath  it  states  it  to  have  been 
copied  from  a  drawing  in  crayons  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Messrs.  Tonson,  we  may  fairly  presume 


that  they  possessed  the  Faithorne  as  well  as  the 
Richardson  Drawing.  It  may,  however,  turn 
out  that  the  Richardson  Drawing  is  really  by 
Faithorne ;  and  if  BO,  the  confusion  would  be 
accounted  for  by  the  dress  having  been  slightly 
altered  by  Faithorne  in  his  engraving  in  1670. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxiii 


When,  in  1759,  Bishop  Newton  edited  the  edition  of  Paradise 
Lost  to  which  was  prefixed  a  Portrait  of  the  Poet,  engraved  by  Miller 
for  "  Tonsoris  Baskerville  edition"  he  stated  in  his  life  of  Milton  : 

"  There  are  two  pictures  of  greater  value  than  the  rest,  as  they 
are  undoubted  originals,  and  were  in  the  possession  of  Milton's  widow : 
the  first  was  drawn  when  he  was  about  twenty-one,  and  is  at  present 
in  the  Collection  of  the  Right  Honourable  Arthur  Onslow,  Esq., 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  :  the  other,  in  crayons,  was  drawn 
when  he  was  about  sixty-two,  and  was  in  the  Collection  of  Mr. 
Richardson,  but  has  since  been  purchased  by  Mr.  Tonson.  Several 
prints  have  been  made  from  both  these  pictures,  and  there  is  a  print 
done,  when  he  was  about  sixty-two  or  sixty-three,  after  the  life,  by 
Faithorne,  which,  tho'  not  so  handsome,  may  yet,  perhaps,  be  as  true 
a  resemblance  as  any  of  them.  It  is  prefixed  to  some  of  our  author's 
pieces,  and  to  the  folio  edition  of  his  prose  works,  in  three  volumes, 
printed  in  1698."1 

It  is  here  seen  that  Bishop  Newton,  who  was  no  doubt  employed 
by  Messrs.  Tonson,  makes  mention  of  the  "  Richardson"  Drawing  in 
"  crayons"  quite  unconnected  with  the  name  of  Faithorne,  whose 
engraved  portrait,  executed  in  1670,  he  merely  notices,  but  does  not 
allude  to  the  existence  of  any  original  drawing.  That  Messrs.  Tonson 
were  in  the  possession  of  the  Faithorne  Drawing  in  1760,  is  clearly 
shown  ;  and  it  is  therefore  singular,  that  Bishop  Newton  should  not 
have  mentioned  that  original  drawing.  It  may  have  been,  however, 
that  Bishop  Newton  never  saw  it.  He  was  not  engaged  in  writing  a 
history  of  the  various  portraits  that  had  been  taken  of  the  Poet.  His 
notice  of  the  portraits  was  merely  incidental  in  his  biography  of  the 
Poet.  He  may  have  only  casually  seen  the  "  Richardson"  drawing 
whence  the  portrait  was  engraved  for  the  edition  of  Paradise  Lost  on 
which  he  was  then  occupied. 

We  do  not  think  that  there  is  any  confusion  in  the  statement 
made  by  Bishop  Newton.  He  merely  notes  the  bare  fact  of  the 
"  Richardson"  crayon  drawing  being  then  in  the  possession  of  "  Mr. 
Tonson."  That  the  "Richardson"  drawing  was  that  recognised  by 
Deborah,  the  youngest  daughter  of  the  Poet,  is  quite  clear. 

1  The  Works  of  Milton,  edited  by  Bishop  Newton.     5th  edition,  1761.     Vol.  i.,  p.  Ixvi. 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION. 


"  The  elder  Richardson,"  observes  Mr.  Marsh,  p.  6,  in  his 
'Explanatory  Notes  and  Remarks  on  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,'  pub- 
lished in  1734,  "  inserted  an  etching  '  from  an  excellent  original  in 
crayons'  in  his  possession,  and  which  he  states  in  his  introduction  (p. 
ii.)  he  had  reason  to  believe  Milton  sat  for  not  long  before  his  death. 
In  a  subsequent  passage  (p.  xxxvi.)  he  relates,  as  an  evidence  of 
Deborah  Clarke's  tender  remembrance  of  her  father,  that,  '  this  picture 
in  crayons  was  shewn  her  after  several  others,  or  which  were  pretended 
to  be  his.  When  those  were  shewn,  and  she  was  asked  if  she  could 
recollect  if  she  had  ever  seen  such  a  face,  '  No,  no  ;'  but,  when  this  was 
produced, — in  a  transport — '  Tis  my  father  !  'tis  my  dear  father,  I  see 
him  !  'tis  him  !'  and  then  she  put  her  hands  to  several  parts  of  her 
face, — "'Tis  the  very  man, — here  !  here!" 

Here  is  a  plain  fact  recorded  in  1734  by  J.  Richardson,  Sen.,  the 
then  possessor  of  the  Crayon  Drawing,  which  drawing  was  after- 
wards, as  stated  by  Bishop  Newton,  purchased  by  "Mr.  Tonson"  from  the 
collection  of  Mr.  Richardson  ;  and  which  was,  in  1759,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Mr.  Tonson,  from  whose  family  it  descended  as  an  Heir-loom 
to  William  Baker,  Esq.,  of  Bayfordbury,  Herts, — Grandfather  of  the 
present  William  Baker,  Esq.,  of  Bayfordbury,  in  right  of  his  mother, 
the  great  niece  of  Jacob  Tonson. 

The  circumstance  of  the  "  Richardson"  crayon  drawing  having 
been  shown  to  Deborah  Clarke,  does  not  in  any  degree  affect  the  state- 
ment as  recorded  (p.  619)  in  the  "Memoirs  of  Thomas  Hollis,"  of  the 
original  drawing  by  Faith orne,  in  the  possession  of  "  Messrs.  Tonson," 
having  been  also  taken  about  the  year  1725  to  Deborah  Clarke  by 
Vertue,  the  engraver ;  nor  does  that  fact  invalidate  the  relation1  by 
Vertue,  of  his  having  taken,  in  1721,  several  engraved  portraits  of  the 
Poet  to  his  Daughter,  as  also  a  picture,  but  whether  in  oil  or  crayons, 
is  not  recorded.  It  may  have  been  the  original  Drawing  made  from 
life  by  Robert  White,  who  died  in  1704,  and  Vertue  may  have  pos- 
sessed it  after  it  had  been  engraved  by  Simon. 

There  is  most  undoubtedly  a  great  similarity  between  the  design 
of  the  Richardson  and  White  portraits,  such  as  one  can  only  suppose 
could  have  arisen  by  their  having  been  taken  at  about  the  same  period. 
That  such  was  the  case  we  are  warranted  in  believing,  as  Vertue 


1  Marsh  on  the  Engraved,  etc.,  Portraits  of  Milton.     I860  ;  pp.  5,  6. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxv 


inscribed  that  engraved  by  him  in  1725  "  ^Etat.  62,  A.D.  1670,"  the 
same  year  as  that  engraved  by  Faithorne. 

Had  Mr.  Peter  Cunningham,  when  he  edited  "Johnson's  Lives  of 
the  Poets,"  taken  the  trouble  of  seeking  an  introduction  to  Mr.  Baker 
to  obtain  a  personal  inspection  of  the  "  Richardson"  Drawing,  he  would 
not  have  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  confusion  made  by  Archdeacon 
Todd,  Mr.  Keightley,  and  others,  between  the  Faithorne  and  the 
Richardson  Drawings,  by  stating,  "  Faithorne' s  original  drawing  is 
preserved  with  other  portraits  belonging  to  Tonson,  including  the 
Kit-Kat  collection,  at  Bayfordbury,  near  Hertford,  the  seat  of  Mr. 
Baker." 

j]T  is  very  evident  that  the  Richardson  Portrait,  which  we 
shall  in  future  designate  the  "  Baker-Drawing,"  has  been 
very  little  seen  by  any  of  the  biographers  and  persons  who 
have  edited  the  works  of  the  Poet,  though  most  of  them, 
more  or  less,  make  mention  of  it.  When  we  had  the  pleasure  of  first 
seeing  it  at  Bayfordbury,  July  1860,  we  were  inclined  to  the  same 
opinion  as  we  now  entertain  ;  namely,  that  there  is  no  evidence,  by  way 
of  style,  to  justify  our  considering  it  to  be  by  the  hand  of  Faithorne. 
But  it  is  a  Work  of  Art  of  much  merit.  It  certainly  appears  to  us 
to  have  been  taken  at  a  period  a  little  earlier  than  the  one  engraved 
by  Faithorne.  On  examining  it  more  carefully  a  second  time  in 
November, — consequent  on  the  very  interesting  brochure  issued  by 
Mr.  Marsh, — we  were  led  to  consider  whether  it  could  have  been 
an  earlier  drawing  by  Faithorne,  from  which,  when  he  made  the 
engraving  in  1670,  he  took  another  copy  for  that  purpose,  altering  the 
form  of  the  dress,  and  giving  a  different  expression  to  the  countenance  • 
in  the  same  way  as  he  did  with  regard  to  the  portrait  of  Sir  Orlando 
Bridgman  previously  noticed. 

It  is  related  of  the  Poet,  that  his  visitors,  unless  made  acquainted 
with  the  fact  of  his  being  totally  blind,  could  not  have  discovered  that 
he  was  afflicted  with  so  sad  a  calamity.  That  so  noble  a  face  should 
have  been  deprived  of  the  use  of  its  most  intellectual  feature,  and  yet 
have  all  the  appearance  of  its  full  possession,  is  remarkably  shewn 
in  the  characteristic  drawing  under  consideration. 

The  Baker  drawing,  as  stated,  note,  p.  xxii, — differs  very  mate- 


XXVI 


INTRODUCTION. 


rially  from  the  engraved  Portrait  by  Faithorne  :  which,  though  giving 
a  living  expression  to  the  eyes,  presents  a  distressing  degree  of 
sternness  in  the  general  character  of  the  face,  such  as  no  description 
of  the  personal  appearance  given  by  any  of  his  contemporaries  leads 
us  to  think  was  the  case  ;  whereas,  in  the  Baker  drawing,  a  charming 
placidity,  yet  melancholy  thoughtfulness,  pleasingly  pervades  the 
whole  of  his  features. 

We  may  with  confidence  assert  that  no  satisfactory  engraving  has 
been  made  of  the  crayon  drawing  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Baker. 
That  prefixed  to  the  edition  of  the  Baskerville  edition  of  Milton's 
Paradise  Lost,  issued  in  1759,  represents  the  head  not  only  in  a  dif- 
ferent position,  but  it  is  altogether  a  bad  representation  of  the  original. 
That  engraved  by  J.  Baker  from  a  drawing  specially  made  by  a  young 
artist  named  Simpson,  for  Todd's  edition  of  the  Poetical  Works  of 
Milton,  published  in  1801,  is  very  fairly  executed,  but  fails  to  embody 
the  pleasurable  expression  of  the  original ;  while  the  engraving  by 
Vertue  prefixed  to  the  fifth  edition  of  Paradise  Lost,  edited  by  Bishop 
Newton,  in  1761,  carries  with  it  a  wildness  in  the  features  totally  un- 
characteristic of  Milton. 

jUPvING  the  Progress  of  our  Pursuit,  we  have  had  much 
pleasure  in  availing  ourselves  of  the  very  ingenious  and 
really  marvellously  effective  PROCESSES  OF  THE  ELECTRO 
PRINTING  BLOCK  COMPANY,  in  giving  in  our  text  fac-similes 
of  autograph  Documents  connected  with  Milton,  in  lieu  of  adopting  the 
usual  course  of  employing  a  Wood-engraver,  in  order  that  such  illus- 
trations should  more  conveniently  be  intermixed  with  the  type. 
Independent,  however,  of  those  appliances  of  the  Processes  of  the 
Invention ;  namely,  the  making  of  surface  blocks  for  the  purpose  of 
working  them  with  type  by  the  ordinary  printing  press,  we  have  availed 
ourselves  of  the  very  important  and  most  useful  part  of  the  Patent 
obtained  by  the  company,  namely,  the  POWER  of  REDUCING  1  any  Design 
to  any  desired  size.  Accordingly,  when  we  came  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  binding  of  this  work,  we  found  that  our  very  talented 


1  The  ENLARGEMENT  of  any  Design  is  most 
effective,  many  hundreds  having  been  done  with 
the  greatest  success ;  and  the  fine  work  of  the 


small  one,  however  much  it  may  be  enlarged, 
will  still  be  preserved. 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXVll 


friend  and  sculptor,  Mr.  J.  L.  Tupper,  had  made  his  elegant  Designs 
for  the  exterior  of  the  Binding  too  large.  What  was  to  be  done  ?  To 
ask  a  Sculptor,  who  had, cow  Milton-amore,  kindly  made  the  designs,  to 
alter  them,  was  rather  more  than  we  could  expect  he  would  do.  It  was 
not  likely  that  he  would  so  mechanically  employ  his  pencil.  He  had, 
at  our  particular  request,  made  his  designs  in  transfer-ink,  in  order 
to  avoid  the  necessity  of  employing  (we  mean  no  disrespect)  an 
artist  of  inferior  kind,  to  copy  them;  the  designs  being  at  once 
transferred  to  the  stcne.  In  this  Dilemma,  we  had  recourse  to  the 
Processes  of  the  Electro  Printing  Block  Company;  and,  accordingly, 
to  the  ultimate  satisfaction  of  Mr.  Tupper,  his  Designs,  which  were 
at  that  time  on  the  Lithographic  Stones,  were  reduced  about  half 
an  inch  in  breadth,  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length,  in  order  that 
they  might  occupy  the  space  allotted  to  them  on  the  exterior  of  the 
binding  of  the  work.  To  do  this,  with  regard  to  the  designs  propor- 
tionately, was  a  matter  that  required  some  skill.  When  the  designs 
were  reduced  in  breadth,  the  figures  became  too  much  lengthened,  in 
consequence  of  the  reduction  of  the  breadth  not  being  in  the  same 
proportion  as  the  reduction  in  length.  In  order  to  remedy  this,  the 
centre  figures  in  each  design  were  taken  out,  and,  after  having  been 
mathematically  reduced,  they  were  re-transferred  on  the  stone ;  and 
thus,  as  on  the  exterior  covers  of  the  binding,  the  Two  designs  have 
been,  by  this  marvellously  effective  and  yet  most  simple  Patented 
Process  of  the  Electro  Printing  Block  Company,  made  available  for 
the  purpose  for  which  they  were  intended,  without  the  aid  of  the 
Artist  by  whom  they  were  designed.  In  order  further  to  exhibit  the 
illimitable  power  of  the  Invention,  we  have,  in  lieu  of  the  usual 
plain  or  marbled  paper  on  the  interior  of  the  covers  of  the  binding  of 
this  work,  given  of  each  Design  Three  Further  Reductions.  They  speak 
for  themselves.  They  are  most  interesting,  as  at  once  showing  the 
Marvellous  Power  of  the  Application  of  this  Mechanical  Invention  to 
Works  of  Art— a  Power  that  our  pen  is  quite  unable  to  circumscribe 
—a  power  that  is  so  great  as  not  to  be  at  first  comprehended  by  even 
those  whose  whole  lives  have  been  devoted  to  Art.  The  consequence  has 
been,  that  a  prejudice  has  arisen  against  the  Invention.  Many  Persons 
suppose  that  the  adaptation  of  this  ingenious  process  would  materially 
affect  the  business  of  the  Wood-engraver,  and  also  of  the  Lithogra- 


xxviii  INTRODUCTION. 


pher.  To  a  certain  extent  it  may  affect  the  Wood-Engraver,  inasmuch 
as  a  surface-block  of  Electro-plate  can  be  made  from  any  original  design 
without  the  necessity,  as  was  hitherto  the  case,  of  having  it  cut  in 
wood,  in  order  to  be  worked,  intermixed  with  type,  by  the  ordinary 
printing  press.  With  respect,  however,  to  the  Lithographer,  his  em- 
ployment is  immeasurably  increased,  because  there  is  no  limit  to  the 
reemployment  of  all  description  of  works,  for  republication  in  either 
enlarged  or  reduced  forms.  Series  of  Views  or  Maps,  and  all  kinds 
of  Engravings  which  may  have  been  published  fifty  years  ago,  of  a 
large  size,  say  two  feet  or  more  square,  can  be  now  made  again  avail- 
able, reduced  from  that  size  to  six  inches  square.  So  likewise  may  the 
smaller  works  be  enlarged  in  the  same  proportion.  Suffice  it  to 
state,  that  the  text  of  any  folio,  octavo,  or  duodecimo  work,  can  be 
transferred  and  enlarged  to  an  Imperial  folio;  or  an  Imperial  folio 
work  can  be  reduced  to  a  duodecimo,  in  the  same  perfect  manner  as 
the  smaller  reductions  of  the  Designs  on  the  inner  covers  of  this 
volume  have  been. 

We  feel  the  greatest  interest  in  the  wide  extension  of  the  employ- 
ment of  this  mechanical  application  to  Works  of  Art;  not  merely 
because  we  are  on  the  Direction  of  the  Company,  but  because  we 
are  convinced  that  it  is  a  most  remarkable  and  most  useful  invention. 
ART-MECHANISM  competing  with  the  RAILWAY-PACE  OF  THE  AGE. 


|N  concluding  our  introductory,  though  somewhat  rambling, 
observations,  we  desire  to  offer  our  hearty  thanks  to  the 
many  kind  friends  who  have  rendered  us  their  co-operation 
in  our  pursuit ;  and  though  last,  not  least,  we  have  to 
acknowledge  the  aid  of  our  old  Friend  and  Tutor,  Mr.  Walter 
M'Dowall,  M.A.,  in  the  compilation  of  the  "Biographical  Notices," 
which  we  have  been  induced  to  add  to  our  "fanciful"  RAMBLINGS,— 
Rarnblings  that  have  afforded  us  the  greatest  pleasure,  a  pleasure 
only  to  be  increased  by  the  hope,  that  those  who  may  be  induced  to 
ramble  through  this  volume  will  leniently  criticize  its  contents. 

BUCKFASTLEIGH  ABBEY, 

SOUTH  DEVON,  JUNE  1, 1861. 


RAMBLINGS 


IS   THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


ITEEATUEE  is  AN  AVENUE  TO  GLORY,  EVER  OPEN  FOR  THOSE 
INGENIOUS  MEN  WHO  ARE  DEPRIVED  OF  HONOURS  OR  WEALTH." 

Thus  does  the  learned  D'ISRAELI,  the  father  of  that  author 
who  by  the  versatility  of  his  talent  has  raised  himself  to  the 
highest  offices  of  the  State,  open  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of 
"  THE  LITERARY  CHARACTER;  or  the  History  of  Men  of  Genius." 


After  the  Decline  of  Literature  and  Art  in  Greece,  Eome,  and  other  Countries, 
the  brutal  power  of  man  prevailed,  and  revelled  in  the  destruction  of  what 
Centuries  had  created.  Intellectuality  took  flight  to  seek  repose  until  the  lawless 
spirit  of  barbarism  had  exhausted  itself.  During  the  eclipse  that  spread  partial 
darkness  over  the  mouldering  remains  of  high  cultivation,  the  few  labourers  that 
survived,  stored  their  produce  in  monastic  repositories,  apart  from  the  gaze  of  ruthless 


ignorance. 


The  GREAT  CHARLEMAGNE  would  have  delayed  the  advance  of  his  army,1  to 
have  welcomed  the  arrival  of  a  Man  of  Letters.  The  learned  ALCUINE  was  esteemed 
by  Charlemagne  as  inferior  to  none  in  his  kingdom.  The  native  of  York,  and  disciple 
of  Bede,  was  a  companion  and  tutor,  not  only  to  his  Eoyal  Patron,  but  also  to  his 
Sons. 

In  later  days,  amidst  even  the  conflicts  of  religious  wars,  PHILIP  DUKE  OF 
BURGUNDY,  one  of  the  most  powerful  Princes  of  Europe,  took  special  pains  in 
adorning  his  court  with  the  presence  of  the  most  learned  and  artistic  men  of  his 


1  "  SPINOSA,  when  he  gained  an  humble  liveli- 
hood by  grinding  optical  glasses  at  an  obscure 
village  in  Holland,was  visited  by  the  first  Generals 


of  Europe,  who,  for  the  sake  of  this  philosophical 
conference,  suspended  the  march  of  an  army." 
"The  Literary  Character,"  I.  D'Israeli,chap.  xxiv. 


1 


RAMBLIXGS    IX   THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


country;  a  country,  one  of  the  first  to  take  the  lead  in  the  cultivation  of  the  intel- 
lectual faculties  of  man,  after  the  period  of  darkness  and  barbarism  that  had  for  so 
many  centuries  almost  universally  prevailed.  To  the  Burgundian  Court  was  CAXTON, 
our  first  printer,  indebted  for  support ;  and  to  that  patronage  do  we  owe  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Art  of  Printing  into  this  country. 

So  likewise  POPE  LEO  THE  TENTH,  before  whom  no  potentate  of  his  time  could 
take  precedence,  intuitively  as  a  Medici,  encouraged  Literature  and  Art.  He  did  so 
to  such  an  extent  as  almost  to  peril,  not  only  his  own  resources,  but  those  of  the 
country  over  which  he  held  sway. 

Following  the  example  of  the  Eomau  Emperors,  when  carrying  their  Eagles  to 
all  parts  of  the  globe,  THE  GREAT  NAPOLEON  deemed  the  presence  of  the  most 
Scientific,  Literary,  and  Artistic  Men  he  could  procure,  as  one  of  the  means  for 
transmitting  his  name  to  future  ages,  and  raising  France  to  that  state  of  intellectual 
cultivation  to  which  at  no  period  of  its  previous  history  had  it  arrived. 

Even  amidst  defeat,  as  in  Egypt,  Napoleon  never  lost  sight  of  that  object;  ;m>l 
however  much  he  may  have  transgressed  the  Laws  of  Nations  by  the  transportation 
to  his  Capital,  of  what  he  considered  he  had  a  right,  as  Conqueror,  to  possess,  the 
Imperial  Will  was  rewarded  by  the  assiduity  with  which  his  beloved  people  imbibed 
that  taste  for  Science,  Literature,  and  Art,  which  now,  under  the  extraordinary  reign 
of  the  EMPEROR  Louis  NAPOLEON,  forms  so  prominent  a  feature  in  the  character  of 
that  nation.  The  small  but  significant  bit  of  red  silk  attached  to  the  left  button- 
hole is,  in  that  country,  never  despised !  Piare  indeed  are  the  instances  in  which  it 
has  been  abused.  It  is  a  passport  for  respect  on  all  occasions.  It  is  the  pride,  as 
much  of  the  working  classes,  as  of  the  first  officers  of  the  State. 

In  the  history  of  the  world,  the  brighter  side  reflects  the  shadows  that  are 
cast  around.  Men  of  Science  and  Invention  in  all  ages  are  to  be  found,  whose 
long-cherished  hopes  of  reward  for  their  discoveries  have  been  blighted,  either  by 
the  neglect  of  their  country,  or  by  the  wickedness,  jealousies,  or  covetousness  of 
their  neighbours,  of  which  numerous  instances,  even  in  these  enlightened  days, 
might  be  enumerated.  The  following,  among  many  in  modern  times,  may  serve 
as  an  example.  THOMAS  CROMPTON,  the  son  of  a  farmer  near  Bolton,  was  the 
inventor  of  the  mule  spindle,  by  which  the  Arkwriglris,  the  Peels,  and  others,  have 
realized  enormous  fortunes;  while  the  inventor,  with  the  utmost  difficulty,  after 
many  years  of  incessant  application,  could  only  obtain  the  paltry  sum  of  £.5,000. 
Well  might  Mr.  Bright,  the  philanthropic  member  of  Parliament,  a  short  time  ago 
exclaim  :  "We  should  relapse  into  barbarism  if  Crompton's  spindle  carriage  was 
taken  away."  "  The  Cromptons,"  wrote  The  Athenaeum  a  few  months  since,  while 
reviewing  The  Life  and  Times  of  Samuel  Crompton,  by  Gilbert  J.  French,  "were  of 
gone  down  people  of  good  origin;  the  'Clan'  tracing  back  as  far  as  Henry  the  Third, 
and  declared  by  the  College  of  Heralds  entitled  to  use  armorial  bearings  at  the 
visitation  of  Dugdale  in  1664." 


THE   AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


So  likewise  of  Men  of  Letters,  and  equally  so  of  Artists.  Sorrowful  indeed 
would  be  the  task  to  enumerate  the  sufferings,  the  disappointments,  the  mournful 
and  the  untimely  end,  of  many  of  the  most  celebrated  and  learned  men  of  all 
countries, — men  preeminent  in  those  branches  of  science  to  which  the  whole  world  is 
mainly  indebted  for  its  civilization. 


JILTON  being  the  subject  of  our  thoughts,  we  naturally  cast  our  eye  over 
the  Position  of  the  Poets  of  England  up  to  about  the  period  of  his  time. 
In  doing  so  we  omit  the  mention  of  other  professions,  and  consequently 
the  names  of  men  distinguished  in  the  annals  of  Science,  Literature, 
and  Art :  men  of  far  greater  importance  than  those  whose  imaginative 

Muse  has  tended  more  to  the  luxury  of  cultivated  minds  than  to  the  general  utility 

of  mankind. 

Since  penning  these  few  preceding  lines,  we  have  read  with  much  delight  a 

leading  article  in  one  of  the  most  instructive  and  yet  amusing  periodicals1  of  the 

day.     It  touches  on  the  very  subject  to  which  our  thoughts  have  been  incidentally 

drawn : 

"  From  the  earliest  ages  of  the  world,  poetry  has  wielded  so  wide  a  power,  poets  have  held  so 
high  a  place,  that  the  subject  before  us  invites  the  deepest  interest  on  the  part  of  those  to  whom  it  is 
an  enjoyment  and  a  source  of  profit ;  and  not  only  this,  but  it  demands  the  consideration  of  the  few 
who  profess  to  be  beyond  its  reach,  above  or  below  its  influence.  And  yet  it  is  not  an  uncommon 
thing  to  hear  men  scoff  at  poetry.  They  who  term  it  the  idle  production,  the  unprofitable  amusement 
of  weak  minds,  would  do  well  to  be  silent  when  they  see  nation  after  nation,  from  age  immemorial 
until  now,  all  raising  above  them  their  poetry  and  their  poets  as  the  matter  and  the  men  who  are  to 
establish  their  claims  to  greatness,  as  far  as  regards  intellectual  influence  and  superiority,  in  the  eyes 
of  their  contemporaries  and  posterity.  Such  scoffers  must  surely  wonder  when  they  see  the  objects 
of  their  contempt  receiving  the  homage  of  the  highest  intellect  and  the  noblest  genius  of  mankind. 
It  cannot  be  an  unmeaning  fanaticism  that  makes  the  whole  civilized  world  look  back  reverentially 
over  the  tracks  of  eventful  centuries  to  the  light  that  still  burns  undimmed  round  old  Homer  ;  that 
makes  Italy  deify  her  Dante ;  and  raises  England  above  all  the  nations  of  time  past  and  present,  by 
the  name  of  William  Shakespeare.  And  yet  these  men,  and  with  them  a  thousand  other  glorious, 
though  '  lesser  lights,'  were  the  agents  of  no  great  deeds  that  saved  a  country  or  made  a  name ;  they 
were  the  originators  of  no  invention  that  helped  to  broaden  the  path  of  civilization,  and  to  distinguish 
an  age.  Save  incidentally,  they  were  not  historians,  they  were  not  warriors,  nor  orators,  nor  states- 
men ;  and  yet  they  exercised  then,  and  they  retain  now,  a  prodigious  influence  as  the  priests  of 
mysteries,  the  beauty  of  which,  though  it  is  granted  to  many  to  love  and  reverence,  it  is  given  but  to 
few  to  impart  and  to  proclaim." 

Such  is  the  beautiful  and  powerful  language  used  by  way  of  introduction  to  an 
essay  upon  "  POETRY,  THE  POET,  AND  THE  POETIC  PRINCIPLE,"  in  one  of  the  Penny 
Periodicals  of  the  day !  Those  who  are  desirous,  now-a-days,  of  enjoying  the  beauties 


1  "THE  FAMILY  HEKALD,"  No.  851.  The  pro- 
prietor of  this  work — Mr.  George  Biggs — died  a 
few  months  since,  leaving  a  very  large  fortune, 


the  reward  of  the  admirable  manner  in  which 
this  Journal  was  conducted. 


I2 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


of  the  English  language,  must  peruse  the  Public  Journals.  Such  language  as  is  met 
with  in  the  leading  articles  of  the  daily  papers,  as  well  as  in  the  weekly  and  monthly 
periodicals,  is  nowhere  else  to  be  found.  The  proprietors  of  those  publications 
employ  the  highest  talent  that  can  be  procured,  and  reward  it  by  salaries  equal  to 
those  of  many  of  the  chief  appointments  under  the  Government  of  the  country. 
Beautiful  also  are  the  words  of  COLERIDGE  in  the  preface  to  his  Poems  : 

"  I  expect  neither  profit  nor  general  fame  by  my  writings  ;  and  I  consider  myself  as  having  been 
repaid  withont  either.  Poetry  has  been  to  me  its  own  exceeding  reward ;  it  has  soothed  my 
afflictions  ;  it  has  multiplied  and  refined  my  enjoyments  ;  it  has  endeared  solitude ;  and  it  has  given 
me  the  habit  of  wishing  to  discover  the  good  and  the  beautiful  in  all  that  meets  and  surrounds  me." 


I HAUCER,  "  the  Father  of  English  Poetry,"  a  man  of  high  education,  was 
received  at  Court,  rewarded  by  government  appointments,  and  on  his 
death,  in  1400,  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.1  Ocleve,  the  disciple 
of  Chaucer — Lydgate — Skelton — Howard,  Earl  of  Surrey — Sir  Thomas 
Wyat — Sir  Thomas  More — and  other  noble  Poets  of  the  fifteenth  and 
early  part  of  the  sixteenth  centuries,  were  specially  honoured  by  their  Sovereigns. 

The  REIGNS  of  ELIZABETH,  JAMES,  and  CHARLES,  were  remarkable  for  the  extent 
and  variety  of  poetic  talent.  Elizabeth  was  distinguished  for  her  literary  abilities. 
James2  possessed  the  cacoethes  scribendi  to  a  great  extent,  and  considered  himself 
a  no  mean  poet;  while  his  son  Charles,  though  fondly  patronizing  Literature  and  the 
Fine  Arts,  was  too  much  absorbed  with  the  unhappy  state  of  his  country  to  devote 
much  time  to  the  cultivation  of  letters. 


1  The  mention  of  Westminster  Abbey  as  the 
resting  place  of  the  mortal  remains  of  many  of 
the  most  celebrated  men  in  this  country,  induces 
us  here  to  record  the  language  of  "The  Times," 
Oct.  24th,  1859,  on  the  occasion  of  the  funeral 
of  the  late  SIR  ROBERT  STEPHENSON  : 

"  But  death  opens  the  portals  of  greatness, 
and  the  realities  of  honour  begin.  There  is, 
indeed,  something  more  than  striking ;  some- 
thing grand,  affecting,  and  sublime,  in  the  up- 
lifting of  the  curtain  which  admits  the  great 
Engineer  to  sleep  with  the  kings  of  England, 
with  her  great  warriors,  statesmen,  poets,  and 
men  of  renown.  The  change  is  sudden  from  the 
rigid  jealousy  of  custom  and  etiquette,  which 
dealt  out  so  parsimonious  a  tribute  in  life,  to  the 
overwhelming  generosity  of  the  grave,  which 
knows  no  bound  or  stint  in  what  it  has  to  give, 
and  receives  the  hero  of  science  with  all  its 
honours.  A  burial  in  Westminster  Abbey  is  the 


first  honour  of  the  grave,  its  proudest  heraldry 
and  highest  patent  of  nobility.  'A  peerage,  or 
Westminster  Abbey,'  said  Lord  Nelson  before 
the  battle  of  the  Nile.  The  nations  of  the  old 
world  buried  their  great  men  by  themselves. 
'All  the  kings  of  the  nations,  even  all  of  them, 
lay  in  glory,  every  one  in  his  own  house.'  We 
bury  our  great  men  side  by  side.  Wellington 
by  Nelson,  and  Stephenson  by  Telford ;  and  our 
Generals,  Admirals,  and  Engineers,  by  the  side 
of  Statesmen  and  Poets." 

J  D'IsRAELi,  in  his  "  Character  of  James  the 
First,"  does  justice  to  the  great  powers  of  mind 
of  that  monarch,  who,  when  viewing  the  Bod- 
leian Library,  is  recorded  to  have  exclaimed : 
"  Were  I  not  a  king,  I  would  be  an  university 
man  ;  and  if  it  were  so  that  I  must  be  a  prisoner, 
I  would  have  no  other  prison  than  this  library,  and 
becltaitied  together  frith  all  these  goodly  authors." 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


Sir  Philip  Sidney — -Spenser — Sir  J.  Davies — Daniel — Sir  W.  Davenant — and 
many  others  who  adorned  the  Court  in  those  reigns,  received  appointments  in  the 
various  departments  of  the  State. 

Though  Pageants,  Masques,  and  Entertainments,  then  formed  the  great  feature 
in  the  daily  occupation  of  the  Court,  it  becomes  a  question,  how  far  the  working 
Dramatic  Poets  came  in  for  a  portion  of  the  more  substantial  rewards  bestowed  upon 
their  more  wealthy  and  courtly  brethren.  Such  men  as  Heywood,  Marlowe,  Dekker, 
Jonson,  and  even  Shakespeare,  as  also  many  others,  formed  part  and  parcel  of  the 
Company  of  Players  to  which  they  specially  belonged.  It  was  therefore  with  them, 
principally  in  their  professional  capacity,  that  they  received  any  Court  favour.  They 
never  had  any  substantial  mark  of  distinction  conferred  upon  them;  for  though 
Jonson — "Rare  Ben" — was  made  Poet  Laureate  in  his  old  age,  the  previous  years  of 
his  life  had  not  met  with  much  consideration.  He,  like  many  others  of  his  class, 
was,  it  is  stated,  an  improvident  man.  Hence  the  cause  of  his  poverty,  and  probably 
of  his  apparent  neglect. 

While  many  of  the  ennobled  and  wealthier  Poets  proudly  dedicated  their  pro- 
ductions to  Royalty;  those,  whose  resources  were  dependent  on  the  success  of  their 
labours,  availed  themselves  of  Patrons  who  suffered  not  their  names  to  be  the  only 
indication  of  their  support.  Accordingly,  we  find  that  SHAKESPEARE  sought  the 
protection  of  the  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON,  to  whom,  in  1593,1  he  dedicated  his  cele- 
brated poem,  VENUS  AND  ADONIS,  the  first  effusion  of  his  Muse. 

There  is  something  so  peculiarly  interesting  in  the  debid  of  a  great  author,  that 
we  cannot  withstand  the  opportunity  of  here  inserting  the  charmingly  modest 
language  used  by  Shakespeare  on  that  occasion  : 

"  Right  Honourable,  I  know  not  how  I  shall  offend  in  dedicating  my  vnpolishht  lines  to  your 
lordship  nor  how  this  world  will  censure  me  for  chwsing  so  strong  a  proppe  to  support  so  weake  a 
burthen,  onely  if  your  Honour  seeme  but  pleased,  I  account  my  selfe  highlie  praysed,  and  vow  to 
take  aduantage  of  all  idle  houres,  till  I  hane  honoured  you  with  some  grauer  labour.  But  if  the  first 
heyre  of  my  inuention  proue  deformed,  I  shall  be  sorry  it  had  so  noble  a  god-father :  and  never  after 
eare  so  barren  a  land,  for  feare  it  yeeld  me  still  so  bad  a  haruest,  I  leave  it  to  your  hearts  content, 
which  I  wish  may  alwayes  answere  your  owne  wish,  and  the  worlds  hopefull  expectation. 

"  Your  Honors  in  all  dutie 

WILLIAM  SHAKESPEARE. "2 


1  A  copy  of  this  Poem,  bearing  date  1593,  is 
in  the  Malone  Collection  bequeathed  to  the  Bod- 
leian Library,  Oxford.  We  believe  it  to  be  the 
only  copy  known.  In  it  occurs  the  subjoined 
memorandum,  in  the  autograph  of  Edmund 
Malone : 

"  Bought  of  Mr.  William  Ford,  bookseller,  in 
Manchester,  in  August  1805,  at  the  enormous 
price  of  twenty-five  pounds. 

"  Many  years  ago  I  said  that  I  had  no  doubt 


an  edition  of  Shakespeare's  'Venus  and  Adonis' 
was  published  in  1593 ;  but  no  copy  of  that 
edition  was  discovered  in  the  long  period  that 
has  elapsed  since  my  first  notice  of  it ;  nor  is 
any  other  copy  of  1593,  but  the  present,  known 
to  exist.  E.  MALONE." 

1  We  do  not  desire  to  enter  into  the  never- 
ending  controversy  as  to  the  correct  mode  of 
spelling  the  name  of  the  Poet.  We  merely  ask 


RAMBLINGS    IX    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


Though  as  an  actor  and  dramatic  author,  Shakespeare  received  that  kind  of 
royal  patronage  usually  bestowed  upon  those  who  afford  pleasure  to  the  Court,  there 
is  no  authenticated  record  of  his  ever  having  had  any  personal  attention  or  honour 
bestowed  upon  him. 

The  "amicable"  letter1  stated  to  have  been  written  to  Shakespeare  by  James  1., 
has  been  lost!  The  player  had,  it  is  supposed,  offended  his  King,  whose  tastes  were 
not  of  the  most  refined  quality,  or  perhaps  not  in  accordance  with  the  views  of 
Shakespeare.  Davies,  in  his  Scourge  of  Folly,  p.  76,  alludes,  no  doubt,  in  the  sub- 
joined bines,  to  that  fact : 

"Had'st  thou  not  plaid  some  kingly  parts  in  sport, 
Thou  hadst  bin  a  companion  for  a  king." 


of  these  most  learned  disputants,  whether  it  is 
likely  that  Shakespeare  would  have  allowed  his 
first,  and  nearly  all  the  other  early  productions 
of  his  Muse,  to  appear  in  print  with  Ms  name 
incorrectly  spelt?  Surely  he  must  have  superin- 
tended the  printing  of  the  first  editions  of  his 
poems  and  plays  which  all  bear  his  name, 

SHAKESPEARE  or  SHAKE-SPEARE  ! 
"We  are  quite  aware  of  the  fact,  that  in  many 
works  the  names  of  the  authors  are  wrongly 
printed.  Thus  we  find  in  the  early  editions  of 
Dramatic  Pieces,  the  names  Mermion,  Mari/ion, 
Sucklira,  Messenger,  Deker,  Dickers,  in  lieu  of 
Mannion,  Suckling,  Massinger,  Dekker.  We 
might  enumerate  many  others.  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  like  Philip  Melanchthon,  must  have 
had  a  penchant  for  varying  the  orthography  of 
his  name,  as  may  be  seen  by  referring  to  Docu- 
ments in  the  British  Museum. 

In  the  "  Unpublished  Documents,  Marginal 
Notes,  and  Memoranda,  in  the  Autographs  of 
Philip  Melanchthon  and  Martin  Luther,"  by 
S.  Leigh  Sotheby,  published  in  1840,  are  enu- 
merated sixty  different  ways  in  which  Melan- 
chthon signed  his  Name.  If  all  the  documents 
bearing  his  autograph  signature  were  examined, 


we  believe,  that,  in  lieu  of  sixty  varieties  in  the 
spelling  of  his  name,  nearly  one  hundred  might 
be  found. 

Of  Shakespeare,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Hunter 
records  :  "  There  has  been  endless  variety  in  the 
form  in  which  this  name  has  been  written.  I 
can  vouch  for  the  following  forms,  all  taken  from 
writings  of  nearly  the  poet's  own  age  ;  and  those 
not  the  mere  scrawls  of  rude  and  uneducated 
persons,  but  for  the  most  part  traced  by  the 
pens  of  uniformity  of  orthography  as  any  of  their 
neighbours.  But,  in  truth,  uniformity  in  the 
orthography  of  proper  names  was  in  those  times 
not  thought  of,  nor  aimed  at." 


"Scliaksper 
Schakesper 
Sclwkespeyr 
Snagspere 
Shaxper 


Shazpeare 
Shaxsper 


Shaxespere 

Shakepere 

Shak#pear 

SJtakgpeere 

Shackspeare 

Shackespeare 

Sliackespere 


Sludeetpere 

Shakeseper 
Shdhytpere 

57/«/.vxy,//v 


,s7<"/,'>/)ear 


Shaxspere." 


1  The  Works  of  Shakespeare,  edited  by  J.  0. 
HaUiwell,  F.R.S.,etc.    Fol.   1853.  Vol.  i.  p.  130. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


VERY  common  error,  one  which  has  gained  credence  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  exists,  that  in  this  country  PLAYERS  were 
always  looked  upon  by  the  State  as  "Rogues"  and  "Vagabonds," 
and  consequently  as  men  totally  unfit  to  receive  any  mark  of 
distinction.  How  far  such  prejudice  has  been  permitted  to  take 
possession  of  the  Minds  of  Royalty,  from  the  time  when  men  of 
high  intellectual  qualities  were  invited  to  adorn  the  court  by  the 
representation  of  their  works,  and  the  development  of  high  mental  powers,  so  as  to 
have  precluded  them  from  participating  in  the  honours  bestowed  upon  others  around 
them,  remains  doubtful.  Certain  it  is  that  at  no  period,  has  an  Actor,  whatever  may 
have  been  his  position  by  birth  or  education,  received  a  distinction  such  even  as  has 
been  frequently  awarded  to  the  ordinary  tradesman  when  employed  upon  the 
intellectual  labour  of  carrying  up  some  congratulatory  address ! 

Interludes  and  Plays,  from  the  earliest  ages,  have  been  adopted  as  the  popular 
means  of  representing  the  feelings  of  a  nation.  We  leave  the  exemplification  of  this 
fact,  if  necessary,  in  the  hands  of  the  more  learned.  Suffice  it  for  us  to  allude  to  the 
representations  of  Mysteries  that  prevailed  during  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  and 
in  the  sixteenth  centuries,  in  all  parts  of  Italy  ::  representations  intended  to  act 
upon  the  minds  of  the  people  in  respect  chiefly  to  religion. 

So  it  was  as  regards  the  Early  Drama  of  this  country.  When  QUEEN  MARY 
ascended  the  throne  in  July  1553,  she  found  that  the  Players  were  sapping  the  very 
foundations  of  the  religion  she  advocated;  therefore  "little  more  than  a  month 
elapsed  before  she  issued  a  proclamation,  the  object  of  which  was,  among  other 
things,  to  prevent  the  performance  of  plays  calculated  to  advance  the  principles  and 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation."2  Consequently,  "  some  proceedings  in  the  north  of 
England  caused  the  interference  of  the  Star-Chamber,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1556, 
for  the  total  suppression  of  dramatic  amusements ;"  the  result  of  which  was  that  the 
Earl  of  Shrewsbury  was  required  to  seek  out  certain  players  who  represented  them- 
selves to  be  "  servants  unto  Sir  Francis  Leek,"  who  had  performed  "  certain  plays 
and  interludes  containing  very  naughty  and  seditious  matter  touching  the  King 
and  Queen's  Majesties  and  the  state  of  the  realme,  and  to  the  slander  of  Christ's  true 
and  catholic  religion ;"  and  "  upon  a  repetition  of  their  offence,  to  punish  them  as 
Vagabonds." 


1  It  is  believed  that  in  Italy  the  mind  of  Mil- 
ton was  first  imbued  with  those  sublime  ideas 
that  carry  his  name  to  posterity. 


•  Annals  of  the  Stage,  by  J.  Payne  Collier, 
F.S.A.     3  vols.     1831.     Vol.  i.  p.  156. 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


The  condemnatory  mandate  of  QUEEN  MARY,  in  ]  553,  did  not  prevent  the 
growth  of  the  Company  of  Players.  Indeed,  to  such  an  extent  had  they  increased, 

"  Enrolling  themselves  as  the  retainers  of  the  nobility,  and  travelling  all  over  the  country,  that  it 
was  found  requisite  to  pass  a  statute  for  their  regulation  and  controul." 

Accordingly,  in  the  year  1572,  ELIZABETH  passed  an  edict  of  protection,  ordering 

"  All  fencers,  bearwards,  common-players  in  interludes  and  minstrels,  not  belonging  to  any  Baron 
of  this  realm  or  towards  any  other  honorable  personage  of  greater  degree,  &c.,  &c.,  [w/«j]  shall  wander 
abroad  and  not  have  the  licence  of  two  justices  of  the  peace  at  least,  shall  be  deemed,  and  dealt  with,  as 
'  ROGUES  and  VAGABONDS.'  '" 

Here,  then,  we  may  presume,  is  the  foundation  of  that  vulgar  error,  assigning  to  the 
profession  of  an  Actor  the  undesirable  cognomen  of  "Rogue"  and  "Vagabond." 

In  1574,  QUEEN  ELIZABETH,  through  the  influence  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester, 
granted  the  Royal  Patent2  unto  John  Perkyn  and  others  as  his  licensed  players, 

"  To  use,  exercise,  and  occupy  the  ART  and  FACULTIE  of  playeing  Comedies,  Tragedies,  Enterludes, 
Stage-playes,  and  such  like,"  &c.,  &c.,  "  as  well  w^n  our  City  of  London  and  Liberties  of  the  same, 
as  also  wthin  the  liberties  and  freedomes  of  any  our  Cytyes,  townes,  Boroughes,  &c.,  whatsoever,  as 
wthout  the  same,  throughout  our  Realme  of  England." 

It  is  here  seen  that  the  occupation  of  the  Players,  in  this  Royal  Patent,  came 
under  the  denomination  of  "ART"  and  "  FACULTIE."  The  only  restriction  made,  was 

"  That  the  saide  Comedies,  Trajedies,  Enterludes  and  Stage-playes  be  by  the  Mr  of  our  Revills 
(for  the  tyme  being)  before  seen  and  allowed,  and  that  the  same  be  not  publisshed,  or  shewen  in  the 
tyme  of  common  prayer,  or  in  the  tyme  of  great  and  common  plague  in  our  sayd  City  of  London." 

Equally  might  the  denomination  of  "  ROGUES"  and  "VAGABONDS"  have  been, 
morally,  applied  to  Physicians  and  other  professional  men  practising  their  art  and 
"facultie" without  their  Licenses  or  Diplomas.  There  are  Gradations  in  all  Professions! 

"  The  right  conceded  to  the  players  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester",  writes  Mr.  Collier, 
"  was  strenuously  opposed  by  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Corporation  of  London."  Accord- 
ingly an  "Order  from  the  Common  Council  was  issued,  Dec.  6,  1575,  forbidding  the 
performance  of  plays,  interludes,  &c.,  under  pain  of  fine  and  imprisonment ;  and  that 
no  play  shall  be  performed  in  the  city  which  has  not  first  been  '  perused  and  allowed' 
by  persons  appointed  by  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Court  of  Aldermen ;  that  the  licence 
of  the  Lord  Mayor  shall  be  necessary  before  every  public  exhibition ;  and  that  half 
the  money  taken  shall  be  applied  to  charitable  purposes." 

In  this  Act  of  the  Common  Council,3  not  one  word  occurs  touching  the  patent 
granted  to  the  Players  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester.  That  patent  was  ceded  with  the 
express  proviso  that  no  plays,  or  such  like,  should  be  "shewen  in  the  tyme  of 
common  prayer,  or  in  the  tyme  of  great  and  common  plague  in  our  said  City  of 
London ;"  and  it  is  not  likely,  nor  is  it  apparent,  that  the  Players  of  the  Earl  of 
Leicester  would,  or  did,  transgress  against  the  privileges  conferred  upon  them.  It  is 


1  Annals  of  the  Stage,  by  J.  P.  Collier,  F.S.A. 
3  vols.     1831.     Vol.  i.  p.  203. 

1  Ibid.,  vol.  i.  pp.  211-12. 


3  The  Order  is  printed  in  full  in  "TJte  An- 
of  tie   Stage,"  by    J.    P.   Collier,    F.S.A. 
Vol.  i.  p.  214. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


very  evident  that  the  companies  of  Players  of  every  denomination  endeavoured  to 
maintain  their  position  against  the  monopoly  then  granted.  The  Corporation  of 
London  must  have  had  good  cause,- without  at  all  acting  with  disrespect  to  the  order 
of  their  Queen,  inasmuch  as  that  interdict  was  not  directed  against  any  particular 
company  of  performers,- for  the  issuing  of  their  " Order,"  the  preamble  of  which  states: 

"  Whereas  heartofore  sondrie  greate  disorders  and  inconvenyces  have  beene  found  to  ensewe  to 
this  Cittie  by  the  inordynate  hauntynge  of  great  multitudes  of  people,  speciallye  youths,  to  playes, 
enterludes  and  shewes ;  namelye  occasion  of  frayes  and  quarrelles,  eavil  practizes  of  incontinencye  in 
greate  limes,  having  chambers  and  secret  places  adjoyninge  to  their  open  stagies  and  gallyries, 
invevglynge  and  allewrynge  of  maides,  speciallye  orphanes,  and  good  citizens  children  under  age,  to 
previe  and  unmete  contracts,  the  publishinge  of  unchaste,  uncomelye,  and  unshamefaste  speeches  and 
doynges,  with  drawinge  of  the  Queenes  Majesties  subjects  from  dyvyne  servyce  on  Sondaies  and 
holyclaies,  at  which  tymes  such  playes  were  chefely  used,  unthriftye  waste  of  the  moneye  of  the  poore 
and  fond  persons,  sondrie  robberies  by  pyckinge  and  cuttinge  of  purses,  utteringe  of  popular,  base 
and  sedycious  matters,  and  manie  other  corruptions  of  youthe,  and  other  enormyties ;  besydes  that 
allso  soundrye  slaughters  and  mayeminges  of  the  Queenes  subjectes  have  happened  by  mines  of 
skaffoldes,  fframes  and  stagies,  and  by  engynes,  weapons  and  powder  used  in  plaies." 

A  corporate  body  like  that  of  London  would  not  have  issued  an  order  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  open  immorality  occasioned  by  the  performances  of  Plays,  etc.,  without 
reason;  and  in  all  such  cases,  the  innocent  must  suffer  with  the  guilty.  Accord- 
ingly, we  find  "Her  Matie>  poor  Players", -no  doubt  the  players  of  the  Earl  of 
Leicester,  as  there  was  at  that  time  no  company  known  as  " The  Queens  Play ers"1- 
petitioning  the  Privy  Council  to  have  the  letter  of  License  previously  granted, 
confirmed.  The  result  of  all  these  proceedings  was  the  construction  of  three  places 
set  apart  for  dramatic  representations.  "Her Majesties  Poore  Players" settled  them- 
selves at  one,  that  of  Blackfriars,  the  site  of  the  then  lately  dissolved  monastery. 

Sunday  was  rather  a  favourite  day  for  the  representation  of  dramatic  pieces 
before  the  Court  of  Elizabeth.  Hence  the  renewal,  in  1581,  of  the  dispute  between 
the  City  of  London  and  the  Privy  Council,  the  latter  then  yielding,  and  forbidding 
the  performance  of  plays  on  the  Sabbath  Day ;  a  general  order  to  that  effect,  from 
the  Privy  Council,  being  afterwards  issued  in  1583.  In  1587,  however,  the  Council 
had  again  to  interfere,  though  not  with  much  effect,  as  "in  1592  plays  were  still 
performed  on  Sundays."2 

To  such  a  state  of  demoralization  had  the  drama  been  debased  by  the  conduct 
of  the  lower  order  of  players,  that  the  University  of  Cambridge  applied  for  and 
obtained  power  to  put  down  all  interludes  and  plays  within  a  circumference  of  five 
miles  of  that  seat  of  learning ;  nevertheless,  in  the  same  year,  an  order  was  sent  to 
the  University  to  prepare  a  comedy  to  be  represented  there  before  the  Queen3  during 
Christinas,  in  pursuance  of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Queen  to  uphold  the  "art  and 


1  The  History  of  English  Dramatic  Poetry  to 
the  Time  of  Shakespeare,  and  Annals  of  the 
Stage,  by  J.  P.  Collier,  F.S.A.  Vol.  i.  p.  220. 


2  Annals  of  the  Stage,  etc.,  vol.  i,  page  279. 

3  Annals  of  the  Stage,  etc.,  vol.  i.  pp.  294-5. 


10 


RAMBLIXGS    IX    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


facultie"  of  the  higher  drama.  Subsequently,  in  1594,  "certain  comcedies  and  one 
tragcedie"  were  performed  there;  Thomas  Neville,  the  Vice-Chancellor,  soliciting  the 
loan  of  the  royal  robes  in  the  Tower  for  that  purpose. 

The  number  and  companies  of  players  having  considerably  increased  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  King  James,  though  particularly  partial  to 
theatrical  amusements,  found  it  necessary,  on  succeeding  to  the  throne,  to  annul  the 
protection  of  players  acting  only  on  the  license  of  one  of  the  nobility,  rendering 
them,  on  doing  so,  liable  to  the  pains  and  penalties  enacted  against  vagrants.  That 
Act  did  not,  however,  as  supposed  by  Mr.  Kingsley,1  denominate  the  licensed  and 
royal  players  as  "rogues  and  vagabonds"  or  forbid  their  performances  as  " unlawful 
pastime;"  nor  did  the  Act  of  Charles  I.,  an  Act  directed  specially  against  perform- 
ances on  Sundays,  such  frequently  having  taken  place  before  the  Court  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  reign  of  James.  The  ordinances  issued  by  the  Parliament  during 
the  Kebellion,  denouncing  all  players  and  actors  as  " incorrigible  rogues"  can  only 
be  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  many  fanatical  acts  of  the  day. 

I HATEVER  may  have  been  the  feelings  of  Milton  with  regard  to  Dramatic 
Eepresentations,  when  in  1634  he  wrote  his  Comus,  he  did  not,  in 
1644,  entertain  an  exalted  opinion  of  the  merit  of  Dramatic  Authors 
generally. 

In  his  singularly  remarkable  and  dogmatic  treatise  "  Of  Education" 
addressed  "  to  Master  Samuel  Hartlib,"  and  issued  in  that  year,  Milton  recommends 

"  Choise  Histories,  Heroic  Poems,  and  Attic  Tragedies,"  to  the  special  study  of  youth,  together 
with  the  aid  of  Logic  and  Rhetorick,  adding,  "  To  which  Poetry  would  be  made  subsequent,  or  indeed 
rather  precedent,  as  being  less  suttle  and  fine,  but  more  simple,  sensuous  and  passionate.  I  mean  not 
here  the  prosody  of  a  verse,  which  they  could  not  but  have  hit  on  before  among  the  Rudiments  of 
Grammar ;  but  that  sublime  Art  which  in  Aristotle's  Poetics,  in  Horace,  and  the  Italian  Commentaries 
of  Castelvetro,  Tasso,  Mazzoni,  and  others,  teaches  what  the  laws  are  of  a  true  i1/'"'  1'm'in,  what  of  a 


1  "  The  city  of  London,  in  1580,  had  obtained 
from  the  queen  the  suppression  of  plays  on  Sun- 
day ;  and  not  long  after, '  considering  that  play- 
houses and  dicing-houses  were  traps  for  young 
gentlemen  and  others,'  obtained  leave  from  the 
queen  and  privy  council  to  thrust  the  players 
out  of  the  city,  and  to  pull  down  the  playhouses, 
five  in  number ;  and,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem, 
there  is  little  doubt  that,  by  the  letter  of  the 
law,  'stage-plays  and  interludes'  were  even  to 
the  end  of  Charles  the  First's  reign,  'unlawful 
pastime,'  being  forbidden  by  14  Eliz.,  39  Eliz., 
1  Jacobi,  3  Jacobi  and  1  Caroli,  and  the  players 
subject  to  severe  punishment  as  '  rogues  and 
vagabonds.'  The  Act  1  Jacobi  seems  even  to 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  repeal  the  clauses  which, 


in  Elizabeth's  reign,  had  allowed  honourable 
persons  of  greater  degree  ;  who  might  'authorize 
them  to  play  under  his  hand  and  seal  of  arms.' 
So  that  the  Puritans  were  only  demanding  of 
the  sovereigns  that  they  should  enforce  the  very 
laws  which  they  themselves  had  made,  and  which 
they  and  their  nobles  were  setting  at  defiance. 
Whether  the  plays  ought  to  have  been  put  down, 
and  whether  the  laws  were  necessary,  is  a  dif- 
ferent question  ;  but  certainly  the  court  and  the 
aristocracy  stood  in  the  questionable,  though  too 
common,  position  of  men  who  made  laws  to 
prohibit  to  the  poor  amusements  in  which  they 
themselves  indulged  without  restraint." — "Min- 
cdlanies"  by  Charles  Kingsley.  2  vols.  1859. 
Vol.  ii,  p.  87. 


THE   AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


11 


Dramatic,  what  of  a  Lyric,  what  Decorum  is,  which  is  the  grand  master-piece  to  observe.  This  would 
make  them  soon  perceive  what  despicable  creatures  our  common  Rimers  and  Play-writers  be,  and  sJiew 
them,  what  religious,  what  glorious  and  magnificent  use  might  be  made  of  Poetry  both  in  divine  and 
humane  things.  From  hence  and  not  till  now  will  be  the  right  season  of  forming  them  to  be  able 
Writers  and  Composers  in  every  excellent  matter,  when  they  shall  be  thus  fraught  with  an  universal 
insight  into  things." 

It  is  generally  believed  that  Sir  William  D'Avenant  was,  about  the  time  when 
the  preceding  observations  were  written,  one  of  the  most  intimate  friends  of  Milton. 
It  therefore  seems  extraordinary  that  Milton  should  have  written  of  the  dramatic 
authors  and  poets  of  the  day  as  being  "despicable  creatures."  He  makes  no  distinction 
beyond  the  word  "common"  so  that  his  language  was  as  applicable  to  his  friend 
Sir  W.  D'Avenant,  and  to  all  the  then  distinguished  dramatic  authors  and  poets,  as  it 
might  be  to  street-balladmongers  and  itinerant  play-writers. 

Milton  was  a  man  of  strong  religious  feelings  :  one  who,  no  doubt,  openly 
expressed  his  views  upon  the  immorality  of  the  existing  Drama ;  and  more  especially 
upon  the  conduct  of  the  Court  in  making  Dramatic  Eepresentations,  and  all  such 
like  amusements,  the  principal  occupation  of  Koyalty  on  the  Sunday.  Though  Milton 
did  not  consider  that  that  day,1  more  than  any  other  day  of  the  week,  should  be  deno- 
minated "  The  Lord's  Day,"  yet,  in  accordance  with  the  general  feeling  and  practice 
of  those  even  with  whom  he  differed,  he  was  known  to  devote  the  Sunday  specially 
to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.2 


1  SUNDAY.  The  Seventh  Chapter  in  the  Second 
Book  of  Milton's  "Treatise  on  Christian  Doe- 
trine,"  is  specially  devoted  to"  The  Time  for  Divine 
Worship ;  wherein  are  considered  The  Sabbath, 
Lord's  Day,  and  Festivals."  The  views  of  Milton 
on  this  subject  are  most  comprehensive  and 
learned.  He  considered  the  Sabbath  an  ordi- 
nance of  the  Mosaic  Law,  since  repealed ;  and  he 
therefore  argues  "  that  no  particular  day  of  wor- 
ship has  been  appointed  in  its  place,  [as]  is  evident 
from  the  same  Apostle  (St.  Paul),  Rom.  xiv.  5  : 
One  man  esteemeth  one  day  above  another:  another 
esteemeth  every  day  alike  :  let  every  man  be  fully 
persuaded  in  his  own  mind.  For  since,  as  was 
observed  before,  no  particular  place  is  designated 
under  the  gospel  for  the  public  worship  of  God, 
there  seems  no  reason  why  time,  the  other  cir- 
cumstance of  worship,  should  be  more  defined. 
If  Paul  had  not  intended  to  intimate  the  aboli- 
tion of  all  sabbaths  whatever,  and  of  all  sancti- 
fication  of  one  day  above  another,  he  would  not 
have  added,  in  the  following  verse,  he  that  re- 
gardeth  not  the  day,  to  the  Lord  lie  doth,  not  regard 
it.  For  how  does  he  not  regard  the  day  to  the 


Lord,  if  there  be  any  commandment  still  in  force 
by  which  a  particular  day,  whether  the  Sabbath 
or  any  other,  is  to  be  observed  ?"— Page  605. 

2  SUNDAY.  "  Aubrey  and  others,  who  obtained 
their  information  from  his  widow,  have  related 
that  as  long  as  he  lived  it  was  his  custom  to 
begin  the  day  with  hearing  a  portion  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures,  which  a  person  was  employed 
to  read  to  him ;  and  during  every  period  of  his 
life  his  Sundays  were  wholly  devoted  to  theology. 
The  importance  which  he  attached  to  these  pur- 
suits is  further  confirmed  by  what  Birch  relates 
of  the  system  pursued  by  him  with  his  pupils.  , 
The  Sunday's  work  for  his  pupils  was  for  the 
most  part  to  read  a  chapter  of  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment, and  hear  his  exposition  of  it.  The  next 
work  after  this  was  to  write  from  his  dictation 
some  part  of  a  system  of  divinity  which  he  col- 
lected from  the  most  eminent  writers  upon  that 
subject,  as  Amesius,  Wollebhis,  etc." — Extract 
from  the  preface  of  Bishop  Sumner  to  the  "  Trea- 
tise on  Christian  Doctrine,"  by  Milton,  1825,  4to., 
pp.  xx-xxi. 


12 


RAMBLIXGS    IX   THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


There  is  no  record  of  Milton  having  written  against  the  Drama,  or  that  he  had 
any  participation  in  advising  the  Ordinance  of  the  Parliament,  in  16'42,  "for  the 
suppression  of  public  stage-plays  throughout  the  kingdom  dtn-imj  these  calamitous 
times"  an  ordinance  followed,  in  1647,  by  others  subjecting  all  Players  and  Actors 
infringing  the  order  to  be  punished  as  "  Rogues." 


JILTON  does  not  appear  to  have  derived  any  pecuniary  advantage  from 
his  labours  as  a  Poet.  His  juvenile  productions,  and  a  few  other  minor 
pieces,  were  published  for  the  first  time1  in  1645.  His  Poems  were 
evidently  at  that  period  not  more  esteemed  than  many  of  the  con- 
temporaneous poetical  volumes  of  similar  character.  If  we  may  judge 
from  the  fact  of  those  poems  being  issued  without  any  of  those  commendatory 
verses,- the  tribute  of  praise  so  generally  accorded  by  way  of  introduction  to  the 
effusions  of  a  brother  poet,2-we  may  fairly  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Milton  was, 
at  that  period,  comparatively  little  known  in  the  poetical  world. 

Unlike  also  the  works  of  other  poets  of  the  day,  those  of  Milton  are  not  inscribed 
to  any  patron,  but  are  merely  introduced  to  the  public  by  an  address  from  Humphrey 
Moseley  the  publisher.  The  volume  bears  no  indication  that  it  had  been  even 
published  under  the  superintendence  of  the  author.  The  Poems  are  arranged  without 
much  attention  to  their  chronological  order;  and  some  of  the  Sonnets  are  without 
the  headings  that  occur  in  the  originals  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript.  Besides 
this,  several  of  the  Sonnets  written  before  1645,  are  omitted,  as  also  other  of  his 
early  poetical  productions.  As  we  do  not  find  the  address  of  Moseley  reprinted  in 
any  of  the  later  editions  of  his  Poems,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  present  it  to  our  readers 
as  an  example  of  the  singular  style  of  the  writing  of  that  day. 

"THE    STATIONER    TO    THE    READER. 

"It  is  not  any  private  respect  of  gains,  gentle  Reader,  for  the  slightest  Pamphlet  is  now  udavi  •> 
more  vendible  than  the  Works  of  learnedest  men ;  but  it  is  the  love  I  have  to  our  own  language 
that  hath  made  me  diligent  to  collect,  and  set  forth  such  Peeces  both  in  Prose  and  Verse,  as 
may  renew  the  wonted  honour  and  esteem  of  our  English  tongue:  and  its  the  worth  of  these  both 
English  and  Latin  Poems,  not  the  nourish  of  any  prefixed  encomiums  than  can  invite  thee  to  buy 
them,  though  these  are  not  without  the  highest  commendations  and  applause  of  the  learnedst  Acade- 
micks,  both  domestick  and  forrein.  And  amongst  those  of  our  own  countrey,  the  unparalld'd 
attestation  of  that  renowned  Provost  of  Eaton,  Sir  Henry  Wootton  :  I  know  not  thy  palat  how 
it  relishes  such  dainties,  nor  how  harmonious  thy  soul  is ;  perhaps  more  trivial  Airs  ma}'  please 
thee  better.  But  howsoever  this  opinion  is  spent  upon  these,  that  incouragement  I  have  already 


1  Except  his  Comus,  published  in  4to.,  1637, 
and  his  Lycidas  in  1638. 

J  The  poems  of  William  Cartwright  issued  by 


H.  Moseley  in  1651,  were  preceded  by  the  elu- 
sions of  above  fifty  of  the  most  eminent  Poets  and 
learned  men  of  the  day. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON. 


13 


received  from  the  most  ingenious  men  in  their  clear  and  courteous  entertainment  of  MB.  WALLERS  late 
choice  Peeces,  hath  once  more  made  me  adventure  into  the  World,  presenting  it  with  these  ever-green, 
and  not  to  be  blasted  Laurels.  The  Authors  more  peculiar  excellency  in  these  studies,  was  too  well 
known  to  conceal  his  Papers,  or  to  keep  me  from  attempting  to  sollicit  them  from  him.  Let  the 
event  guide  it  self  which  way  it  will,  I  shall  deserve  of  the  age,  by  bringing  into  the  Light  as  true 
Birth  as  the  Muses  have  brought  forth  since  our  famous  SPENCER  wrote ;  whose  Poems  in  these 
English  ones  are  as  rarely  imitated,  as  sweetly  excell'd.  Reader,  if  thou  art  Eagle-eied  to  censure 
their  worth,  I  am  not  fearful  to  expose  them  to  thy  exactest  perusal. 

"  Thine  at  command, 

"  HUMPH.  MOSELEY." 


|ENEY  LA  WES,  Eoyal  Musician,  and  the  friend  of  Milton,  had,  as  stated 
on  the  title  of  the  edition  of  the  poems  of  Waller,  issued  by  H.  Moseley 
in  1645,  just  previous  to  those  of  Milton,  set  "All  the  Lyrick  Poems" 
of  the  former  to  music.  Authors  and  publishers,  in  those  days,  were  at 
least  as  much,  and  perhaps  more,  intimately  connected  in  social  life 
than  at  the  present  time.  Edmund  Waller,  though  he  had  not  at  that  period  openly 
declared  against  Charles  the  First,  was  decidedly  opposed  to  the  Royal  Measures; 
and  consequently  coincided,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  the  views  of  Milton. 

Unlike  Milton,  however,  Waller  was  not  true  to  the  opinions  he  had  declared. 
He  forsook  his  party,- he  betrayed  his  friends,- he  played  false  to  his  King,- he 
truckled  to  Cromwell,- he  turned  Royalist,-  he  became  a  Member  of  Parliament  under 
James  II,  and  established  himself  as  one  of  the  favourites  of  the  Court.  Thus 
was  the  political  life  of  Edmund  Waller  one  of  great  success,  while  his  poetical 
talents  are  now  comparatively  as  much  obscured  as  those  of  Milton  are  elevated  to 
the  highest  pinnacle  of  poetic  fame. 

The  Arcades  of  Milton,-his  Comw.s,-his  Lycidas,-}m  Outline  of  Paradise  Lost, 
as  a  sacred  drama,- his  notes  of  "Other  Tragedies,"  and  his  Sketches  of  Dramas 
illustrative  of  English  History,  forcibly  point  out  the  early  bent  of  his  mind.  There 
must  have  been  some  great  change  in  his  views  in  regard  to  the  Drama,  to  have 
induced  him  to  lay  aside  all  his  once  cherished  dramatic  schemes,  so  carefully 
outlined  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript. 

On  entering  the  University  of  Cambridge,  it  was  his  intention  to  have  embraced 
the  Church  as  his  profession.  That  idea  was  abandoned  by  him  soon  after  the  age 
of  twenty-three,  as  shewn  in  a  letter1  written  to  a  friend  in  Cambridge.  In  that 
beautiful  letter  Milton  does  not  express  any  feelings  indicative  of  those  opinions 
which  he  entertained  at  a  later  period ;  nor  had  he  at  that  time  decided  on  his  future 
course  of  action.  He  thus  defended  his  then  life  of  retirement  and  "love  of  learning." 

"  Or  if  it  be  to  be  thought  a  natural  proneness,  there  is  against  that  a  much  more  potent  inclina- 
tion inbred,  which  about  this  time  of  a  man's  life  solicits  most, — the  desire  of  house  and  family  of  his 


1  Two  autograph  drafts  of  this  letter  are  in 
the  Trinity  College  Manuscript.     The  letter  is 


given  in  full  by  Dr.  Masson  in  his  "Life  of  Mil- 
ton,"  vol.  i.  pp.  289-92. 


14 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


own  ;  to  which  nothing  is  esteemed  more  helpful  than  the  early  entering  into  creditable  employment, 
and  nothing  hindering  than  this  affected  solitariness.  And  though  this  were  enough,  yet  there  is 
another  aid,  if  not  of  pure,  yet  of  refined  nature,  no  less  available  to  dissuade  prolonged  obscurity,  — 
a  desire  of  honour  and  repute  and  immortal  fame,  seated  in  the  breast  of  every  true  scholar  ;  which 
all  make  haste  to  by  the  readiest  ways  of  publishing  and  divulging  conceived  merits,  —  as  well  those 
that  shall,  as  those  that  never  shall  obtain  it.  Nature,  therefore,  would  presently  work  the  more 
prevalent  way  if  there  were  nothing  but  this  inferior  bent  of  herself  to  restrain  her.  Lastly,  the  love 
of  learning,  as  in  the  pursuit  of  something  good,  it  would  sooner  follow  the  more  excellent  and 
supreme  good  known  and  prescribed,  and  so  be  quickly  diverted  from  the  empty  and  fantastic  chase 
of  shadows  and  motions,  to  the  solid  good  flowing  from  due  and  timely  obedience  to  that  command  in 
the  Gospel  set  out  by  the  terrible  feasing  of  him  that  hid  the  talent." 

In  confirmation  of  the  views  thus  expressed,  Milton  takes  the  opportunity  of 
adding  a  Sonnet  which  he  had  previously  written,  "on  his  being  amved  at  the  age 
of  twenty-three,"  touching  upon  the  very  subject  on  which  his  friend  had  remonstrated 
with  him.  Milton  precedes  it  by  observing, 

"  Yet  that  you  may  see  that  I  am  suspicious  of  myself,  and  do  take  notice  of  a  certain  belated- 
ness  in  me,  I  am  the  bolder  to  send  you  some  of  my  nightward  thoughts  some  while  since,  because 
they  come  in  not  unfitly,  made  up  in  a  Petrarchian  stanza,  which  I  told  you  of." 


"  By  this  I  believe  yon  may  well  repent  of  having  made  mention  at  all  of  this  matter  ;  for  if  I 
have  not  all  this  while  won  you  to  this,  I  have  certainly  wearied  you  of  it.  This,  therefore,  alone  may 
be  a  sufficient  reason  for  me  to  keep  me  as  I  am,  lest  having  thus  tired  you  singly,  I  should  deal 
worse  with  a  whole  congregation,  and  spoil  all  the  patience  of  a  parish." 

The  Sonnet  is  one  of  considerable  interest,  and  was  composed  on  or  before 
December  8,  1631,  that  being  the  day  it  was  intended  to  commemorate.  In  lieu  of 
giving  it  in  type,  we  give  it  in  fac-simile1  from  the  original  in  the  Trinity  College 


1  Here  our  readers  are  presented  with  a  Fac- 
simile of  the  Autograph  of  the  Poet ;  not  im- 
pressed from  an  engraved  wood-block,  or  a  metal 
cast  from  the  wood-nlor,k,  which  were  the  only 


means  hitherto  practised  in  order  to  make  the 
fac-simile  available  to  be  printed  simultaneously 
in  the  same  page  with  type ;  but  obtained  by  the 
marvellous  application  of  Heclianical  Skill  in 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


15 


Manuscript,  as  a  good  specimen  of  the  ordinary  cursive  handwriting  of  the  Poet  at 
that  early  period  of  his  life. 


conjunction  with  Science.  Before  this  discovery, 
in  order  to  obtain  a  fac-simile  of  any  writing  or 
design, — excepting  by  the  use  of  Photography, — 
it  was  first  necessary  to  employ  an  artist  to  trace 
or  copy  it.  That  tracing  or  copy  was  then  trans- 
ferred to  a  wood-block,  and  cut  by  the  graver  of 
a  second  skilful  artist ;  and  were  he  one  of  first- 
rate  talent,  the  cost  of  his  artistic  work  would 
almost  equal  that  of  a  leading  line-engraver. 
Yet  with  all  the  skill  and  care  of  the  most  prac- 
tised wood  or  other  engraver,  the  original  idea 
of  the  artist,  and  character  of  the  writing,  would 
be  impaired.  We  venture  to  assert,  that  very  rare 
are  the  instances  in  which  an  artist  can  convey, 
in  a  copy,  the  same  artistic  feeling  that  exists  in 
an  original.  The  mind  of  the  artist  cannot  be 
transferred  to  the  mechanic.  We  mean  no  dis- 
respect to,  nor  do  we  undervalue,  the  services  of 
the  wood-engraver,  for  many  are  of  the  highest 
talent  in  their  knowledge  of  design. 

To  the  processes,  however,  of  the  invention 
to  which  we  refer,  we  are  indebted  for  the  ex- 
tremely perfect  fac-simile  of  the  Autograph  of 
Milton  as  it  here  appears  intermixed  with  type. 
The  original  has  been  merely  traced  by  a  most 
careful  Artist ;  and  by  the  accurate  Processes 
of  THE  ELECTRO  PRINTING  BLOCK  COMPANY,  the 
tracing  has  been  formed  into  an  Electro-surface- 
block  without  the  intervention  of  a  Wood-Engraver. 

From  the  Electro  surface-block  innumerable 
impressions  may  be  taken  by  the  ordinary  print- 
ing press,  either  separately,  or  intermixed  with 
type  ;  while  the  matrix,  whence  the  Electro  sur- 
face-block has  been  made,  can  be  preserved,  like 
the  negative  of  a  photograph,  for  repetition  to 
any  extent. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  and  deservedly 
popular  authors  of  the  present  day  is  gifted  with 
such  artistic  powers  that  his  sketches  can  be  ex- 
ceeded by  few.  In  the  illustrations,  however,  of 
his  works,  the  effective  touch  of  his  pencil  loses 
much  of  its  power  by  passing  through  the  hands 
of  the  engraver. 


By  the  Processes  of  this  most  interesting  in- 
vention, to  which  there  is  no  limit  of  its  applica- 
bility, an  artistic  author  may  not  only  have  the 
illustrations  of  his  pencil,  but  also  his  autograph, 
turned  simultaneously  into  pages  of  Electro  sur- 
face-blocks, and  thus  avoid  all  the  expense  of 
having  his  manuscript  set  up  in  type !  How 
interesting  would  be  such  a  work  from  the  pencil 
and  pen  of  THACKERAY  ! 

THE  ELECTRO  PRINTING  BLOCK  COMPANY, — duly 
incorporated  under  the  Joint-Stock  Companies' 
Act,  with  limited  liability, — has  been  formed 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  into  practical  opera- 
tion certain  Patents  for  the  CHEAP  reproduction, 
on  an  enlarged  or  reduced  scale,  of  Original 
Drawings  and  existing  Engravings,  Maps,  and 
Prints,  and  for  making  therefrom  Electro-blocks 
for  surface  printing,  either  at  the  Hand  or  Steam 
Press.  Its  application  to  MAPS  and  PLANS  has 
proved  most  useful  and  marvellously  successful. 

The  correctness,  expedition,  and  economy,  with 
which  Original  Pen  and  Ink  Drawings,  existing 
Copper  or  Steel  Engraved  Plates,  or  Impres- 
sions therefrom,  Stereotypes,  Wood-blocks,  or 
Lithographic  Stones,  can  be  equally,  or  eccentri- 
cally, partially  or  entirely  enlarged  or  reduced  in 
size,  or  converted  into  Electro-blocks,  without 
the  intervention  of  the  Engraver,  give  to  the 
inventions  a  value  which  can  scarcely  be  over- 
stated. 

It  is  equally  applicable  for  Lithographic  print 
ing,  and  every  description  of  drawings  upon 
stone  can  be  enlarged  or  reduced,  and  made 
available  for  printing  any  number  of  copies  in 
three  or  four  hours.  By  a  process  peculiar,  we 
believe,  to  this  Company,  portions  of  the  Ord- 
nance or  other  maps  can  be  transferred  to  stone 
and  metal  and  enlarged  to  any  scale,  so  that  the 
proprietor  of  an  estate  desiring  a  knowledge  of 
it,  or  a  surveyor  requiring  a  plan  of  a  district,  can, 
by  the  means  of  this  Company,  obtain  them  at 
a  very  small  cost  indeed,  and  with  a  celerity  per- 
fectly astonishing. 


16 


APPENDIX. 


JIHOUGH  we  do  not  enter  largely  into  biographical  details,  the  subjoined 
passage,  touching  the  ambition  of  Milton,  is  interesting  as  expressive 
of  his  feelings  in  1657,  when  writing  to  CARLO  DIODATI,  a  most  inti- 
mate friend,  whom  he  always  addressed  with  the  utmost  freedom  and 
affection. 

"  But  if  my  disposition  or  my  destiny  were  such  that  I  could  without  any  conflict  or  any  toil 
emerge  to  the  highest  pitch  of  distinction  and  of  praise,  there  would  nevertheless  be  no  prohibition, 
either  human  or  divine,  against  my  constantly  cherishing  and  revering  those,  who  have  either  obtained 
the  same  degree  of  glory,  or  are  successfully  labouring  to  obtain  it.  But  now  I  am  sure  that  you 
wish  me  to  gratify  your  curiosity,  and  to  let  you  know  what  I  have  been  doing,  or  am  meditating  to 
do.  Hear  me,  my  Deodati,  and  suffer  me  for  a  moment  to  speak  without  blushing  in  a  more  lofty 
strain.  Do  you  ask  what  I  am  meditating  ?  By  the  help  of  Heaven  an  immortality  of  fame. 

"  But  what  am  I  doing  ?  irrepo^vw.  I  am  letting  my  wings  grow,  and  preparing  to  fly  ;  but 
my  Pegasus  has  not  yet  feathers  enough  to  soar  aloft  in  the  fields  of  air.  I  will  now  tell  you  seriously 
what  I  design :  to  take  chambers  in  one  of  the  inns  of  court,  where  I  may  have  the  benefit  of  a 
pleasant  and  shady  walk  ;  and  where  with  a  few  associates  I  may  enjoy  more  comfort  when  I  choose 
to  stay  at  home,  and  have  a  more  elegant  society  when  I  choose  to  go  abroad.  In  my  present  situa- 
tion, you  know  in  what  obscurity  I  am  buried,  and  to  what  inconveniences  I  am  exposed."1 

On  his  return,2  in  1639,  from  the  continent,  Milton  devoted  himself  to  the 
education  of  the  two  sons  of  his  sister,  Mrs.  Phillips ;  at  the  same  time  taking  charge 
of  a  few  other  boys,  the  sons  of  his  friends,  by  which  he  doubtless  obtained  an 
addition  to  his  pecuniary  resources.  He,  however,  who  could  write  of  a  desire  of 
honour  and  immortal  fame,  was  not  very  likely  long  to  submit  to  the  daily  drudgery 
of  a  pedagogue's  life,  or  to  be  looked  upon  by  the  uneducated  and  purseproud  simply 
as  a  "schoolmaster, "-an  occupation  worthy  of  the  man  of  the  highest  intellectual 
ability.  The  chief  Positions  in  the  Universities  arc  the  reward  of  tutorial  pre- 
eminence; stepping-stones  to  the  Bishoprics  of  the  Land. 

Accordingly,  though  at  the  same  time  continuing  his  scholastic  duties,3  Milton 
sought  in  the  Political  and  Eeligious  Drama  of  the  Times  a  relief  congenial  to  his 
active  mind.  He  did  not  allow  much  time  to  elapse,  ere  he  entered  the  Arena  of 


1  Extract  from  a  letter  to  "  Carlo  Diodati," 
dated  from  London,  Sept.  23, 1637.— "Fay,, 
Letters,"  No.  VII. 


3  Milton  went  to  Italy  in  1638,  and  "imme- 
diately after  his  return  he  tooke  a  lodging  at 
Mr.  Russell's  a  taylour  in  St.  Bride's  Church- 
yard, and  took  into  his  tuition,  his  sister's  two 
sons,  Edw.  and  John  Philips.  ye  first  10  and  the 
other  9  years  of  age." — "Letters  of  Aubrey,"  vol. 
ii,  p.  446. 

3  The  circumstance  of  Milton  being  persuaded 


to  take  some  additional  pupils  to  educate  with 
his  Nephews,  placed  him  in  the  position  of  a 
schoolmaster,— a  title  which  some  of  his  biogra- 
phers assert  was  most  distasteful  to  his  feelings. 
Dr.  Johnson  most  ungenerously  alludes  to  the 
scholastic  occupation  of  Milton,  forgetting  that 
the  very  elements  of  education  had  been  the 
source  whence  his  own  fame  had  sprung.  Milton 
was  a  man  of  peculiarly  fine  feeling ;  a  man  of  a 
totally  different  character  from  that  of  Johnson, 
whose  prejudices  rendered  liim  in  many  cases  a 
most  partial  critic  and  censorious  biographer. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  17 


Polemical  Controversy;  while  even  as  late  as  1647,  when  he  had  removed  to  Holborn, 
Milton  received  a  few  scholars.1 

In  1641  he  issued  no  less  than  three  treatises  on  the  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of 
the  Church.  In  one,  "  The  Reason  of  Church  Government,  urged  against  Prelaty" 
those  latent  feelings  which  existed  in  his  unsettled  mind  when  at  Cambridge,  were 
openly  avowed.  "  The  Church,"  he  wrote,  "  to  whose  service,  by  the  intentions  of  my 
parents  and  friends,  I  was  destined  from  a  child,  and  in  mine  own  resolutions ;  till, 
coming  to  some  maturity  of  years,  and  perceiving  what  tyranny  had  invaded  the 
Church,- that  he  who  would  take  orders  must  subscribe  slave,  and  take  an  oath  withal, 
which  unless  he  took  with  a  conscience  that  would  retch,  he  must  either  straight 
perjure,  or  split  his  faith;-!  thought  it  better  to  prefer  a  blameless  silence  before  the 
sacred  office  of  speaking,  bought  and  begun  with  servitude  and  forswearing.  How- 
soever thus  Church-outed  by  the  prelates,  hence  may  appear  the  right  I  have  to 
meddle  in  these  matters,  as  before  the  necessity  and  constraint  appeared." 

From  this  time  Milton  became  a  public  man.  He  openly  and  honestly  avowed 
the  cause  he  espoused ;  but  domestic  circumstances  unhappily  occurred  which  induced 
him  to  employ  his  powerful  pen  in  writing  a  treatise  "On  the  Doctrine  and  Disci- 
pline of  Divorce."  In  1643  he  married  MARY,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  Eichard 
Powell.  The  marriage  turned  out  unhappily,  the  lady  within  a  few  weeks  returning 
to  her  parents.  The  political  views,  the  literary  tastes,  and  the  sedentary  occupations 
of  Milton,  did  not,  it  is  presumed,  quite  agree  with  her  previous  convivial  enjoy- 
ments. Her  father  was  a  Eoyalist,  and  she  had  been  accustomed  to  mix  in  a  great 
deal  of  society,  more  particularly  among  military  men.  She  became  disgusted  with 
the  too  much  "  love  of  learning"  of  her  husband,  and  consequently  left  him.  He,  in 
return,  felt  himself  grossly  insulted,  and  consoled  himself  for  the  loss  of  his  wife  by 
writing  his  celebrated  "  Treatise  on  Divorce,"  impetuously  issued  by  him,  with  the 
utmost  rancour  of  feeling,  in  the  same  year. 

Political  events,  and  the  Battle  of  Naseby,  July  1645,  brought  about  a  reconcili- 
ation with  his  wife,  whose  father  and  family  sought  the  aid  of  the  then  republican 
Milton,  who  received  them  into  his  house.  The  result  of  the  reunion  of  Milton  with 
his  wife,  was  the  birth  of  his  daughter  ANNE,  July  29,  1646;  followed  by  that  of 
MAEY,  October  25,  1648;  a  son,  March  16,  1650;  and  in  May  1652,  by  DEBORAH. 
His  wife  died  in  the  same  year.  His  son  also  died  in  its  infancy. 

It  appears  extraordinary  that  Milton,  after  reconciliation  with  his  wife,  should 
have  so  strenuously  continued  the  controversy  upon  a  subject,  which,  in  the  judgment 
of  even  his  admirers  and  friends,  met  with  almost  general  condemnation.  That  he 
entertained  the  same  feelings  on  the  "Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  Divorce"  up  to  a 
late  period  of  his  life,  is  evident  from  the  fact  of  his  closing  the  tenth  chapter  of  his 
most  learned  "  Treatise  on  Christian  Doctrine"  with  a  recapitulation  of  the  arguments 

1  Life  of  Milton,  by  Todd.     Works,  vol.  i.  p.  63. 


18 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


he  had  brought  forward  in  support  of  his  views,- views  which,  if  entertained  by  the 
generality  of  mankind,  would  be  almost  sufficient  to  annul  the  very  bonds  of  social 
happiness.  In  that  chapter  Milton  sums  up  all  his  arguments  by  considering,  that 
in  the  event  of  the  tastes  and  feelings  of  the  wife  turning  out  not  to  be  congenial  to 
the  husband,  that  fact  alone  is  sufficient  to  justify  divorce. 

In  a  little  volume,  published  in  1649,  intitled  "Cases  of  Conscience  Practically 
Resolved,"  the  author,  JOSEPH  HALL,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  one  of  the  most  learned  and 
pious  men  of  the  day,  strongly  condemns,  in  "Case  II.,"  the  opinions  of  the  Poet. 

"  I  have  heard  too  much  of,  and  once  saw,  a  licentious  Pamphlet  thrown  abroad  in  these  luwlesse 
times,  in  the  defence  and  encouragement  of  Divorces  (not  to  be  sued  out,  that  solemnity  needed  not, 
but)  to  be  arbitrarily  given  by  the  disliking  husband,  to  his  displeasing  and  unquiet  wife ;  upon  this 
ground  principally,  that  Marriage  was  instituted  for  the  help  and  comfort  of  man  ;  where  therefore 
the  match  proues  such,  as  that  the  wife  doth  but  pull  downe  a  side,  and  by  her  innate  peevishnesse, 
and  either  sullen,  or  pettish  and  froward  disposition  brings  rather  discomfort  to  her  husband,  the  end 
of  marriage  being  hereby  frustrate,  why  should  it  not,  saith  he,  be  in  the  Husband's  power  (after 
some  unprevailing  means  of  reclamation  attempted)  to  procure  his  own  peace,  by  casting  off  this  clog, 
and  to  provide  for  his  own  peace  and  contentment  in  a  fitter  Match  ? 

"Woe  is  me,  To  what  a  passe  is  the  world  come  that  a  Christian  pretending  to  Reformation, 
should  dare  to  tender  so  loose  a  project  to  the  publique?  I  must  seriously  profess  when  I  first  did 
cast  my  eye  upon  the  front  of  the  book,  I  supposed  some  great  wit  meant  to  try  his  skill  in  the  msiin- 
tenance  of  this  so  wild,  and  improbable  a  paradox ;  but  ere  I  could  have  run  over  som  of  those  too 
welpenned  pages,  I  found  the  Author  was  in  earnest,  and  meant  seriously  to  contribute  this  peece  of 
good  councel  in  way  of  Reformation  to  the  wise  and  seasonable  care  of  superiors  ;  I  cannot  but  blush 
for  our  ages,  wherein  so  bold  a  motion  hath  been,  amongst  others,  admitted  to  the  light :  what  will  all 
the  Christian  Churches  through  the  world,  to  whose  notice  those  lines  shall  come,  think  of  our  wot  nil 
degeneration  in  these  deplored  times,  that  so  uncouth  a  designe  should  be  set  on  foot  amongst  us  •" 

The  circumstances  connected  with  the  first  marriage  of  Milton  having  been  so 
partially  mentioned  and  distorted  by  some  of  his  learned  biographers,1  we  are  induced 
to  enter  fully  into  the  statement  of  the  facts  so  interestingly  detailed  by  his  nephew 
and  earliest  biographer,  EDWARD  PHILLIPS,  in  the  Memoir  of  the  Poet  prefixed  to 
the  "LETTERS  OF  STATE"2  published  in  1694. 


1  WARTON  appears  to  have  considered  that 
Milton  was  actually  divorced  from  his  wife. 
"Poem*  of  Milton,"  p.  338,  note. 

J.  A.  ST.  JOHN,  the  editor  of  the  Prose  Works 
of  Milton,  published  by  our  indefatigable  friend 
Mr.  Henry  Bohn,  omits  in  his  Preface  (p.  xiii) 
all  note  of  the  reconciliation  of  the  Poet  to  his 
Wife. 

LAMABTINE,  the  French  Historian,  in  his  "Me- 
moirs of  Celebrated  CJtaracters,"  vol.  ii.  p.  7,  writes 
that  Milton  had  "  obtained  his  divorce,  and  was 
ready  to  marry  a  second  time."  It  is  extraor- 
dinary how  often  the  most  learned  foreigners 
misinterpret,  or  are  careless  in  correctly  ascer- 


taining, the  facts  connected  with  English  His- 
tory. There  must  be  a  something  in  the  English 
Language  that  is  insurmountable  to  the  under- 
standing of  Foreigners. 

3  "Letters  of  State,  Written  by  Mr.  John 
Milton,  To  most  of  the  Sovereign  Princes  and 
Republicks  of  Europe.  From  the  year  1 '  '>  I '. ' 
Till  the  year  1659.  To  which  is  added,  An 
Account  of  his  life.  Together  with  several  of 
his  Poems ;  And  a  Catalogue  of  his  works,  never 
before  Printed."  London.  Printt-il  in  tin  //•  <,• 
1694.  12mo. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


19 


The  Poems  mentioned  in  the  title  to  the  "Letters  of  State"  consist  only  of  Four 
Sonnets,  being  those  addressed  "To  Oliver  Cromwell" -"To  my  Lord  Fairfax"- 
"To  Sir  Henry  Fane,"- and  "To  Mr.  Cyriac  Skinner  upon  his  Blindness,"-soimets 
purposely  omitted  in  the  edition  of  the  Poems  of  Milton  previously  issued  in  1673. 
Though  Milton  maintained  his  opinions,  he  was  not  the  man  to  insult,  or  to  be 
ungrateful  to  the  Monarch  to  whose  clemency  he  owed  his  life.  Hence  the  omission 
of  the,  Sonnets  in  the  Second  Edition  of  his  Poems,  1673. 

The  "Letters  of  State,"  believed  to  have  been  "surreptitiously  obtained,"  were 
issued  in  1676,  in  Latin,  in  which  language  they  were  originally  written  by  Milton, 
thus  intitled,  "Literce  Pseudo-Senates  Anglicani,  Cromwellii,  Reliquorumqne  Perdu- 
ellium,  nomine  acjussu  conscriptce  d  Joanne  Miltono.  Impresses  anno  1676." 

The  English  Translation  of  16941  was  accompanied  with  the  most  authentic 
particulars  of  the  Life  of  the  Poet  that  had  appeared.  It  was  preceded  by  an  anony- 
mous address,  no  doubt  from  the  pen  of  Edward  Phillips,  the  editor  of  the  volume. 

"  To  the  Reader  :"-thus  closing,-"  Then,  for  the  Honour  of  these  People,  who  had  in  those 
times  successively  vsurp'd  the  Supream  Authority  of  the  Nation,  nothing  more  plainly  discovers  it  then 
the  different  Style  of  the  ensuing  Letters  :  for  Mr.  Milton  is  not  to  be  thought  to  have  Written  his  own 
sense,  but  what  was  dictated  to  him  by  his  Superiours.  The  Language  of  the  Long  Parliament  was 
more  Imperious  and  downright.  Oliver's  Vein  was  more  full  of  Cants  ;  and  where  he  concluded  with 
Threats,  he  began  with  Godly  Expostulations.  In  the  last  place,  to  question  the  Truth  of  those 
Transactions  to  which  these  following  Letters  have  Relation,  would  be  a  Solecism  which  Ignorance  it 
self  would  be  ashamed  to  own.  The  Dates,  the  Subscriptions,  Superscriptions,  render  every  thing 
Authentick.  So  that  were  it  only  their  Character  of  Truth  which  must  be  allow'd  'em,  that  alone  is 
sufficient  to  recommend  'em  to  Posterity  ;  at  least  to  those  who  may  be  ambitious  to  be  the  English 
Thuamis's  of  succeeding  Ages,  to  whom  the  Verity  of  these  Letters  will  be  a  useful  Clue,  so  far  as  it 
reaches,  to  guide  them  through  the  Labyrinth  of  forgotten  story.  Hony  soit  qui  mal  y  pence." 

As  we  shall  have  occasion  at  the  close  of  our  Ramblings  to  refer  to  the  delicate 
position  held  by  Edward  Phillips  in  connexion  with  Milton  his  uncle,  we  will  only 
here  observe,  that  it  was  not  likely  that  his  nephew,  who  entertained  political 
opinions  of  a  totally  opposite  character,  would  write  in  either  strong  laudatory  or 
condemnatory  terms  of  the  public  conduct  of  his  deceased  uncle. 

Edward  Phillips  was  a  royalist,  and  continued  so  to  his  death ;  yet  withal,  he  is 
not  sparing,  in  the  opening  of  the  Memoir  of  his  Uncle,  of  language  most  encomiastic, 
worthily  transmitting  the  fame  of  Milton,  as  an  Historian,  to  all  posterity.  He  writes  :2 

"  Had  his  Fame  been  as  much  spread  through  Europe,  in  Thuamis's  time  as  now  it  is,  and  hath 
been  for  several  Years,  he  had  justly  merited  from  that  Great  Historian,  an  Eulogy  not  inferiour  to 
the  highest,  by  him  given  to  all  the  Learned  and  Ingenious  that  liv'd  within  the  compass  of  his 
History.  For  we  may  safely  and  justly  affirm,  that  take  him  in  all  respects,  for  Accuracy  of  Wit, 
Quickness  of  Apprehension,  Sagacity  of  Judgment,  Depth  of  Argument,  and  Elegancy  of  Style,  as 


1  In  the  Preface  to  the  prose  works  of  Milton, 
published  by  Henry  Bohn,  Mr.  St.  John,  the 
editor,  states,  p.  xl,  that  the  edition  in  English  of 
the  "Letters  of  State,"  1694,  "appeared,  no  doubt, 


under  tlie  care  of  Toland."     On  what  authority 
Mr.  St.  John  grounds  his  opinion  we  know  not. 

2  Familiar  Letters — Memoir — p.  iii.     1694. 


20  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


well  in  Latin  as  English,  as  well  in  Verse  as  Prose,  he  is  scarce  to  be  parallel'd  by  any  the  best  of 
Writers  our  Nation  hath  in  any  Age  brought  forth." 

While  here  paying  the  highest  tribute  of  respect  to  his  uncle,  the  writer  in  no 
way  compromises  himself  as  to  his  own  views  of  the  part  Milton  had  taken  in  the 
political  drama  of  the  latter  part  of  the  Keign  of  Charles  I.  Very  different  was  the 
conduct  of  his  younger  nephew,  John  Phillips ;  who,  after  having  for  many  years 
held  similar  opinions  to  those  of  his  uncle,  even  assisting  him  in  his  controversial 
writings,  turned  royalist,  and  wrote  against  those  views  which  his  uncle  had  firmly 
and  conscientiously  maintained. 

Touching  the  First  Marriage  of  Milton,  his  nephew,  Edward  Phillips,  relates  that 

"  About  Whitsuntide  it  was,  or  a  little  after,  that  he  took  a  Journey  into  the  Country ;  no  body 
about  him  certainly  knowing  the  Reason,  or  that  it  was  any  more  than  a  Journey  of  Recreation  : 
after  a  Month's  stay,  home  he  returns  a  Married-man  that  went  out  a  Batchelor ;  his  Wife  being 
Mary  the  Eldest  Daughter  of  Mr.  Richard  Powell,  then  a  Justice  of  Peace,  of  Forresthil,  near  $/«</»•/ 
in  Oxfordshire ;  some  few  of  her  nearest  Relations  accompanying  the  Bride  to  her  new  Habitation ; 
which  by  reason  the  Father  nor  any  body  else  were  yet  come,  was  able  to  receive  them ;  where  the 
Feasting  held  for  some  days  in  Celebration  of  the  Nuptials,  and  for  entertainment  of  the  Bride's 
Friends.  At  length  they  took  their  leave,  and  returning  to  Forrestliill,  left  the  Sister  behind ;  pro- 
bably not  much  to  her  satisfaction  as  appeared  by  the  sequel ;  by  that  time  she  had  for  a  Month  or 
thereabout  led  a  Philosophical  Life,— after  having  been  used  to  a  great  House,  and  much  Company  and 
Joviality — Her  Friends,  possibly  incited  by  her  own  desire,  made  earnest  suit  by  Letter,  to  have  her 
Company  the  remaining  part  of  the  Summer,  which  was  granted,  on  condition  of  her  return  at  tin- 
time  appointed,  Michalemas,  or  thereabouts.  In  the  mean  time  came  his  Father,  and  some  of  the 
foremention'd  Disciples.  And  now  the  Studies  went  on  with  so  much  the  more  Vigour,  as  there 
were  more  Hands  and  Heads  employ'd ;  the  Old  Gentleman  living  wholly  retired  to  his  Rest  and 
Devotion,  without  the  least  trouble  imaginable:  Our  Author,  now  as  it  were  a  single  man  attain, 
made  it  his  chief  divertion  now  and  then  in  an  Evening  to  visit  the  Lady  Margaret  Lee,  Daughter  to 

the Lee,  Earl  of  Marlborough,  Lord  High  Treasurer  of  England,  and  President  of  the  Privy 

Counsel  to  King  James  the  First.  This  Lady  being  a  Woman  of  great  Wit  and  Ingenuity,  had  a  parti- 
cular Honour  for  him,  and  took  much  delight  in  his  Company,  as  likewise  her  Husband  Captain 
Hobson,  a  very  Accomplish'd  Gentleman ;  and  what  Esteem  he  at  the  same  time  had  for  Her,  appears 
by  a  Sonnet  he  made  in  praise  of  her,  to  be  seen  among  his  other  Sonnets  in  his  Extant  Poems. 
Michalemas  being  come,  and  no  news  of  his  wife's  return,  he  sent  for  her  by  Letter,  and  receiving  no 
answer  sent  several  other  Letters,  which  were  also  unanswered  ;  so  that  at  last  he  dispatch'd  down  a 
Foot-Messenger  with  a  Letter,  desiring  her  to  return  ;  but  the  messenger  came  back  not  only  without  an 
answer,  at  least  a  satisfactory  one,  but  to  the  best  of  my  remembrance,  reported  that  he  was  dismissed 
with  some  sort  of  Contempt ;  this  proceeding,  in  all  probability,  was  grounded  upon  no  other  Cause 
but  this,  namely,  That  the  Family  being  generally  addicted  to  the  Cavalier  Party,  as  they  called  it, 
and  some  of  them  possibly  engaged  in  the  King's  Service,  who  by  this  time  had  his  Head  Quart  ITS 
at  Oxford,  and  was  in  some  Prospect  of  Success,  they  began  to  repent  them  of  having  Matched  the 
Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Family  to  a  Person  so  contrary  to  them  in  Opinion ;  and  thought  it  would  be 
a  blot  in  their  Escutcheon,  when  ever  that  Court  should  come  to  Flourish  again ;  however,  it  so 
incensed  our  Author,  that  he  thought  it  would  be  dishonourable  ever  to  receive  her  again,  after  such 
a  repulse ;  so  that  he  forthwith  prepared  to  Fortify  himself  with  Arguments  for  such  a  Resolution, 
and  accordingly  wrote  two  Treatises,  by  which  he  undertook  to  maintain,  That  it  was  against  Reason, 
and  the  enjoynment  of  it  not  proveable  by  Scripture,  for  any  Married  Couple  disagreeable  in  Humour 
and  Temper,  or  having  an  aversion  to  each,  to  be  forc'd  to  live  yok'd  together  all  their  Days.  The 
first  was,  His  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  Divorce  ;  of  which  there  was  Printed  a  Second  Edition,  with 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


21 


some  Additions.  The  other,  in  prosecution  of  the  first,  was  styled,  Tetrachordon.  Then  the  better  to 
confirm  his  own  Opinion,  by  the  attestation  of  others,  he  set  out  a  Piece  called  the  Judgement  of 
Murtin  Bucer,  a  Protestant  Minister,  being  a  Translation,  out  of  that  Reverend  Divine,  of  some  part 
of  his  Works,  exactly  agreeing  with  Tiim  in  sentiment.  Lastly,  he  wrote  in  answer  to  a  Pragmatical 
Clerk,  who  would  needs  give  himself  the  Honour  of  Writing  against  so  great  a  Man,  His  Colasterion 
or  Rod  of  Correction  for  a  Sawcy  Impertinent.  Not  very  long  after  the  setting  forth  of  these 
Treatises,  having  application  made  to  him  by  several  Gentlemen  of  his  acquaintance,  for  the  education 
of  their  sons,  as  understanding  haply  the  Progress  he  had  infused  by  his  first  undertakings  of  that 
nature,  he  laid  out  for  a  larger  House,  and  soon  found  it  out ;  but  in  the  interim  before  he  removed, 
there  fell  out  a  passage,  which  though  it  altered  not  the  whole  Course  he  was  going  to  Steer,  yet  it 
put  a  stop  or  rather  an  end  to  a  grand  Affair,  which  was  more  than  probably  thought  to  be  then  in 
agitation :  It  was  indeed  a  design  of  Marrying  one  of  Dr.  Davis's  Daughters,  a  very  Handsome  and 
Witty  Gentlewoman,  but  averse  as  it  is  said  to  this  Notion ;  however,  the  Intelligence  hereof,  and  the 
then  declining  State  of  the  King's  Cause,  and  consequently  of  the  Circumstances  of  Justice  Powell's 
Family,  caused  them  to  set  all  Engines  on  Work,  to  restore  the  late  Married  Woman  to  the  station 
wherein  they  a  little  before  had  planted  her ;  at  last  this  device  was  pitched  upon.  There  dwelt  in 
the  Lane  of  St.  Martin's  Le  Grand,  which  was  hard  by,  a  relation  of  our  Author's,  one  Blaclcborourjli, 
whom  it  was  known  he  often  visited,  and  upon  this  occasion  the  visits  were  the  more  narrowly 
observ'd,  and  possibly  there  might  be  a  Combination  between  both  Parties ;  the  Friends  on  both  sides 
concentring  in  the  same  action  though  on  different  behalfs.  One  time  above  the  rest,  he  making  his 
usual  visit,  the  Wife  was  ready  in  another  Room,  and  on  a  sudden  he  was  surprised  to  see  one  whom 
he  thought  to  have  never  seen  more,  making  Submission  and  begging  Pardon  on  her  Knees  before 
him  ;  he  might  probably  at  first  make  some  shew  of  aversion  and  rejection ;  but  partly  his  own 
generous  nature,  more  inclinable  to  Reconciliation  than  to  perseverance  in  Anger  and  Revenge,  and 
partly  the  strong  intercession  of  Friends  on  both  sides,  soon  brought  him  to  an  Act  of  Oblivion,  and  a 
firm  League  of  Peace  for  the  future ;  and  it  was  at  length  concluded,  That  she  should  remain  at  a 
Friend's  house,  till  such  time  as  he  was  settled  in  his  New  house  at  Barbican,  and  all  things  for  her 
reception  in  order ;  the  place  agreed  on  for  her  present  abode,  was  the  Widow  Webber's  house  in  St. 
Clement's  Church-yard,  whose  Second  Daughter  had  been  Married  to  the  other  Brother  many  years 
before ;  the  first  fruits  of  her  return  to  her  Husband  was  a  brave  Girl,  born  within  a  year  after, 
though,  whether  by  ill  Constitution,  or  want  of  Care,  she  grew  more  and  more  decrepit.  But  it  was 
not  only  by  Children  that  she  encreas'd  the  number  of  the  Family,  for  in  no  very  long  time  after  her 
coming,  she  had  a  great  resort  of  her  Kindred  with  her  in  the  House,  viz.  her  Father  and  Mother, 
and  several  of  her  Brothers  and  Sisters,  which  were  in  all  pretty  numerous ;  who  upon  his  Father's 
Sickning  and  Dying  soon  after  went  away.  And  now  the  House  lookd  again  like  a  House  of  the 
Muses  only,  though  the  accession  of  Scholars  was  not  great.  Possibly  his  proceeding  thus  far  in  the 
Education  of  Youth  may  have  been  the  occasion  of  some  of  his  Adversaries  calling  him  Peedagogue 
and  Schoolmaster ;  whereas  it  is  well  known  he  never  set  up  for  a  Publick  School  to  teach  all  the 
young  Fry  of  a  Parish,  but  only  was  willing  to  impart  his  Learning  and  Knowledge  to  Relations,  and 
the  Sons  of  some  Gentlemen  that  were  his  intimate  Friends ;  besides,  that  neither  his  Converse,  nor 
his  Writings,  nor  his  manner  of  Teaching  ever  favour'd  in  the  least  any  thing  of  Pedantry ;  and 
probably  he  might  have  some  prospect  of  putting  hi  Practice  his  Academical  Institution,  according  to 
the  Model  laid  down  in  his  Spirit  of  Education.  The  Progress  of  which  design  was  afterwards 
diverted  by  a  Series  of  Alterations  in  the  Affairs  of  State  ;  for  I  am  much  mistaken,  if  there  were  not 
about  this  time  a  design  in  Agitation  of  making  him  Adjutant-General1  in  Sir  William  Waller's 
Army ;  but  the  new  modelling  of  the  Army  soon  following,  prov'd  an  obstruction  to  that  design ; 


1  This  fact  is  omitted  to  be  noticed  by  many 
of  the  biographers  of  the  Poet.  Archdeacon 
Todd,  in  his  last  edition  of  the  works  of  the 


Poet,  1842,  notes,  in  his  "Life  of  Hilton,"  p.  62, 
"  This  perhaps  may  be  doubted,  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  Waller  was  esteemed  a  leader  of 


22 


RAMBLINGS    IX    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


and  Sir  William,  his  Commission  being  laid  down,  began,  as  the  common  saying  is,  to  turn  Cat 
in  Pan." 

In  quoting  the  biographical  language  of  nearly  two  centuries  ago,  respecting 
one  whose  life  as  a  poet  is  only  in  interest  exceeded  by  that  of  Shakespeare,  we  are 
reminded  that  some  learned  author  or  intellectual  spirit  of  the  press  designates  the 
"  Literary  Antiquary"  as  a  "  bwe".  That  such  may  be  the  case,  we  do  not  attempt 
to  deny ;  but  we  must  remind  our  learned  critic,  that,  without  the  dogged  researches 
of  the  Antiquarian  Author,  many  of  the  works  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  the 
present  day  would  be  of  no  authority.  In  no  other  Memoir  of  Milton  do  we  find 
facts  so  impartially  represented.  Unlike  the  biography  of  many  distinguished  men 
of  the  present  time,  written  frequently  when  the  over-excited  pen  is  scarcely  dry  from 
the  relation  of  the  painful  details  of  their  last  illness,  death,  and  funeral  ceremonies, 
the  chief  events  in  the  Life  of  Milton  are,  in  the  little  unostentatious  volume  quoted, 
so  modestly  related,  that  they  carry  with  them  evidence  of  unexaggerated  truth. 

Mr.  Marsh,1  while  referring  to  the  few  existing  manuscripts  in  the  Autograph 
of  Milton,  very  justly  remarks  : 

"  This  circumstance,  while  it  enhances  the  pecuniary  value  of  those  curiosities  which  have  been 
preserved,  accounts  for  the  paucity  of  the  materials  of  which  his  biographers  have  been  able  to  avail 
themselves,  in  illustrating  his  private  and  domestic  history.  The  MS.  Notes  of  Aubrey  are  perl  nips 
trustworthy  so  far  as  relates  to  facts  within  his  knowledge,  and  possess  a  peculiar  value  as  the  impart  ial 
evidence  of  one  who  was  in  habits  of  some  familiarity  with  Milton  himself;  but,  as  they  consist  of 
mere  memoranda,  it  is  not  fair  to  expect  from  them  such  a  picture  of  the  private  life  and  circumstances 
of  the  Poet  as  would  have  been  the  result  of  the  regular  Biography  for  which  they  were  intended  as 
materials.  This  want  is,  to  a  considerable  extent,  supplied  by  the  Memoir  of  Edward  Phillips,  which 
has  been  pronounced  '  a  monument  of  sober  affection  and  veneration,  such  as  the  world  has  seldom 
witnessed  in  a  case  of  such  general  interest :'  and  yet  there  are  points,  in  which  it  has  been  shewn  by 
the  light  of  subsequent  discovery,  that  even  he  was  not  wholly  impartial,  and  that  his  uncle's  memory 
has  suffered  from  the  nephew's  perhaps  unconscious  participation  in  the  sentiments  of  his  cousins, 
whose  testimony  is  now  found  to  have  been  wholly  unworthy  of  credit.  The  result  has  been  that, 
while  the  biographies  above  alluded  to,  and  those  of  Toland,  Wood,  Birch,  Richardson,  Peck,  Newton, 
and  Johnson,  enabled  us  to  form  a  tolerably  accurate  view  pf  the  public  and  literary  character  of 
Milton,  and  the  leading  incidents  of  his  personal  history,  his  domestic  circumstances  were  lamentably 
misrepresented.  The  Poet  himself  was  pictured  as  a  morose  domestic  tyrant,  who,  while  '  with  a 
Turkish  contempt  of  females,'  he  degraded  his  daughters  by  a  mean  and  penurious  education, 
compelled  them  to  minister  to  his  service  by  the  most  irksome  attendance  on  his  studies,  and  the 
intolerable  drudgery  of  reading  to  him  in  languages  which  they  did  not  understand  :  and  his  wilt'  was 
represented  as  a  termagant, — the  oppressor  of  her  husband's  children,  and  the  disturber  of  his  own 
domestic  comfort." 

Sir  Egerton  Brydges,  than  whom  no  one  has  been  more  careful,  and  few  more 
elegant,  in  the  style  in  which  he  has  conveyed  the  pith  of  the  memoir  by  Phillips  to 


the  Presbyterians  against  the  designs  of  the 
Independents.  Milton,  in  his  military  capacity, 
could  not  have  served  cordially  under  a  general 
so  disposed."  We  see  no  reason  to  doubt  the 
assertion  of  the  nephew  of  Milton  in  this  rela- 


tion more  than  in  any  other  portion  of  the  bio- 
graphy of  his  Uncle. 

1  Papers  connected  with  the  affairs  of  Milton 
and  his  Family.   " CheethamMigcel," i.!851,p.3. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


23 


his  readers,  honestly  tells  them  in  the  preface  to  his  biographical  sketch  of  Milton, 
that  "  The  foundation  of  all  the  Memoirs  of  the  Poet  is  that  which  was  written  by 
his  nephew,  Edward  Phillips  :  his  personal  knowledge  of  the  bard  gives  authenticity 
to  all  he  relates ;  but  it  is  a  piece  of  biography  brief  and  bare."1 

"Brief  and  bare"  as  that  Memoir  is,  it  is  far  more  interesting  than  many  of  the 
subsequent  lives  that  have  been  written.  Our  astonishment  is,  that  Sir  Egerton 
Brydges,  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  and  diligent  poetical  antiquaries  of  his  time, 
did  not  reprint  it  entire.2  The  biography  of  the  Poet  by  Toland,  Aubrey,  Birch, 
Todd,  Symmons,  and  others,  does  not  contain  many  facts  of  importance  in  respect  to 
the  private  or  public  life  of  Milton,  beyond  those  which  are  related  by  Phillips.  Each 
biographer  avails  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  expressing,  some  in  more  elegant 
language  than  others,  his  own  theological,  political,  and  critical  views ;  thus,  in  some 
instances,  giving  their  biography  more  the  character  of  an  Essay  on  the  religion  and 
politics  of  the  period,  than  of  the  life  of  the  Poet. 

In  making  these  observations  we  do  not  include  the  recent  and  progressing 
labours  of  the  learned  DAVID  MASSON,  M.A.  His  arduous  undertaking  professes  to 
give  the  life  of  Milton  "narrated  in  connexion  with  the  Political,  Ecclesiastical,  and 
Literary  History  of  his  Time."  As  such,  his  work  will  rank  as  one  of  the  most 
comprehensive  and  valuable  histories  of  the  period ;  while  it  will  no  doubt  embody 
every  particular  that  can  be  obtained  to  illustrate  the  polemical,  political,  and 
domestic  life  of  the  Poet. 

TOLAND,  whose  life  of  Milton  appeared3  only  four  years  after  the  memoir  by 
Phillips,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  personally  known  to  Milton.  He  closes  the  few 
introductory  lines  to  his  memoir  by  stating  : 

"  The  amplest  part  of  the  materials  I  had  from  his  own  books,  where,  constrain'd  by  the  difiama- 
tions  of  his  enemys,  he  often  gives  an  account  of  himself.  I  learnt  some  particulars  from  a  person 
that  had  bin  once  his  amanuensis,  which  were  confirm'd  to  me  by  his  daughter  now  dwelling  in 
London,  and  by  a  letter  written  to  one  at  my  desire  from  his  last  wife,  who  is  still  alive.  I  perus'd 
the  papers  of  one  of  his  Nephews  ;  learn't  what  I  could  in  discourse  with  the  other,  as,  after  the  best 
inquiry,  I  was  able  to  discover." 

It  would  have  been  very  satisfactory  had  the  learned  Toland  named  who  was 
the  person  who  acted  as  Milton's  Amanuensis.  Certain  it  is,  that,  had  he  been  any 
one  connected  by  relationship  with  Milton,  Toland  would  not  have  omitted  to  have 
noticed  so  important  a  point. 


1  Poetical  Works   of  Milton,   edited   by  Sir 
Egerton  Brydges.    6  vols.    1835.   Vol.  i.  p.  xix. 


3  Godwin,  in  his  Lives  of  Edward  and  John 
Phillips,  had  reprinted  the  whole  of  the  Memoir 
as  an  "Appendix"  to  his  work.  It  was  published 
in  4to.,  1815 ;  but,  as  the  work  of  Godwin  was 
written  principally  with  a  view  of  propounding 


his  own  political  views,  few  of  those  who  have 
sought  for  the  particulars  of  the  life  of  Milton 
may  have  seen  it. 

3  The  first  edition  was  prefixed  to  the  Amster- 
dam edition  of  Milton's  Prose  Works,  1698. 
Again,  separately,  in  2  vols.  8vo.,  1699  ;  and  in 
1  vol.  8vo.,  1761. 


RAMBLINGS    IN  THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


The  learned  and  Rev.  Dr.  Hawkins,  in  the  preface  to  his  variorum  edition  of 
the  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  while  reviewing  the  various  memoirs  of  the  Poet, 
considers  that  the  Memoir  by  Phillips  "  is  often  inaccurate,  apparently  from  the  care- 
lessness of  the  writer,  who  was  an  author  by  profession ;  and  it  does  not  afford  so 
many  particulars  of  Milton's  private  life  as  might  have  been  expected  from  one  who 
knew  him  so  intimately.  Bishop  Newton  has  incorporated,  in  his  life  of  Milton, 
almost  everything  that  is  most  valuable  in  Phillips,  and  usually  in  the  very  words  of 
the  author." 

Milton  died  in  1674.  The  year  after,  his  nephew,  Edward  Phillips,  issued  his 
"Theatrum  Poetarum  Anglicanarum"  a  work  on  which  he  had,  no  doubt,  had  the 
assistance  of  his  Uncle.  In  the  very  fine  lines  he  has  in  that  work  devoted  to  Milton, 
he  does  not  give  any  biographical  information;  and  when  alluding  to  his  Paradise 
Lost,  and  other  poems,  modestly  adds,  "  it  will  better  become  a  person  less  related 
than  myself  to  deliver  his  judgment." 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  when  Milton  died,  he  was,  and  had  been  for 
many  years,  a  fallen  and  neglected  man.  The  world  had  forgotten  him.  His  party 
had  temporarily  passed  away.  Save  now  and  then  the  visits  of  respect,  and  perhaps 
of  curiosity,  from  Foreign  Princes,  few  thought  about  him.  There  are  no  records  of 
his  domestic  life,  of  such  importance  as  to  lead  us  to  think  his  Nephew  considered 
the  melancholy  scene  of  his  declining  years  of  sufficient  public  interest  to  be  related 
with  the  same  minutiae  as  that  of  one  who  was  surrounded  with  the  comforts  of  life, 
an  affectionate  family,  and  the  esteem  of  the  public.  Milton  had  no  dutiful  son  to 
tell  the  happy  scenes  of  the  early  and  last  days  of  his  Father.  Edward  Phillips 
might,  no  doubt,  have  added  much  more  of  interest  to  the  Memoir  of  his  Uncle.  It 
is  only  astonishing,  that,  as  he  declined  expressing  an  opinion  on  the  merits  of  the 
poetical  productions  of  Milton,  he  should  have  given  so  much  biographical  informa- 
tion, which,  though  perhaps  occasionally  faulty,  has  been  the  foundation,  more  or  less, 
of  nearly  all  the  biographies  of  Milton,  though  by  some  not  acknowledged. 

It  is  remarkable  that  none  of  his  biographers  should  have  noticed  two  singular 
errors  that  occur  in  the  Memoir  referred  to,- errors  so  likely  to  be  made  by  an 
author  and  a  relation.  Phillips,-p.  xxxviii,- states,  that  when  Milton  was  living  in 
the  Artillery  Walk  leading  to  Bunhill  Fields,  he  there  "  Finisht  his  noble  Poem 
(Paradise  Lost)  and  publish't  it  in  the  year  1666.  The  first  Edition  was  Printed  in 
Quarto  by  one  Simons  a  Printer  in  Aldersyate-Slreet,  the  other  in  a  large  Octavo 
by  Starky,  near  Temple-Bar,  amended,  enlarg'd,  and  differently  dispos'd  as  to  the 
Number  of  Books,  by  his  own  hand,  that  is,  by  his  own  appointment." 

The  first  error  in  this  statement  is  in  the  date  of  the  first  edition  of  Paradise 
Lost,  which  did  not  appear  until  1667;  and  the  second,  in  stating  that  the  second 
edition  was  published  by  Starkey.  The  First  Edition  of  Paradise  Regained  and 
Samson  Agonistes  was  issued  by  John  Starkey  in  octavo  in  1671,  and  again  in  1680. 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  notice  that  in  the  first  edition  of  Paradise 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


25 


Regained,  1671,  the  Imprint  runs  thus  :  "Printed  by  J.  ~M..for  John  Starkey."  The 
initials  J.  M.  were  no  doubt  intended  for  those  of  the  author,  denoting  that  the 
volume  was  printed  by  him,  i.e.,  at  his  expense,  and  merely  published  for  sale  by 
John  Starkey.  As,  however,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  enter  more  fully  upon  the 
points  touching  the  printing  and  publishing  of  Paradise  Lost,  we  close  the  subject  of 
the  preceding  remarks  by  observing,  that,  in  respect  to  the  two  singular  errors  made 
by  Phillips,  we  doubt  whether  any  author,- and  authors  are  very  frequently  most 
indifferent  on  such  minor  points,- would  not  be  liable  to  make  similar  mistakes; 
more  particularly  so,  when  the  circumstances  are  recorded  by  a  relative. 


AVING  gained  some  little  information  by  departing  from  the  more 
beaten  roads  whence  the  Biographers  of  Milton  have  obtained  their 
materials,  we  were  induced  to  wander  into  the  more  secluded  lanes, 
hoping,  that  perchance  the  reapers  might  have  thought  the  way-side 
crop  hardly  worth  their  attention. 
We  had  not  rambled  very  far,  ere  we  had  the  gratification  of  meeting  with 

AS   CHARMING  A   PIECE   OF   AUTOBIOGRAPHY   AS   WAS   EVER   PENNED. 

We  found,  however,  that  the  sickles  of  Toland  and  Symmons,  more  vigorous 
among  the  many  Miltonic  reapers  than  others,  had  carried  away  some  little  portion 
of  the  self-sown  crop ;  but  which,  however,  being  intermingled  with  that  previously 
stored,  only  added  to  its  bulk,  with  little  chance  of  its  superior  quality  being 
discernible. 

THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  MILTON  that  we  here  introduce,  is  to  be  found  in  his 
"Second  Defence  of  the  People  of  England"1  issued  in  1654,  being  an  answer  to 
the  "  Regii  Sanguinis  Clamor  ad  Ccelum  adverse  Parricidos  Anglicanos,"  written 
by  the  celebrated  PETER  DU  MOULIN,  and  published  at  the  Hague  in  1652. 

Both  of  these  works  were  written  in  the  Latin  Language,  and  though  the  one 
by  Milton  is  to  be  found  in  the  collected  editions  of  his  Prose  Works,  yet  those 
portions  of  personal  details  which  it  contains,  have  evidently  been  overlooked,  to  a 
great  extent,  by  most  of  his  biographers. 

The  learned  Dr.  Symmons  considers  the  "Second  Defence  of  the  People  of 
England,"  by  Milton,  to  be  the  most  interesting,  if  not  the  most  striking  of  all  his 
prose  compositions;  and  that  it  contains  biographical  "materials  of  peculiar  value,  as 


1  "  Joannis  Miltoni  Angli,  pro  Populo  Angli- 
cano  Defensio  secunda  contra  infamem  libellum 
Anonymum  cui  titulus,  Regii  Sanguinis  Clamor 
ad  Ccelum  adversus  Parricidas  Anglicanos." 
12mo.,  Lond.,  1055. 


Our  extracts  are  taken  from  the  translation 
by  the  Rev.  Robert  Fellowes,  of  Oxford,  of  the 
Prose  Works  of  Milton.  6  vols.  Published  by 
Hemy  G.  Bohn.  Vol.  i.  pp.  235-40,  253-59. 


26 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


they  cannot  be  obtained  in  any  other  place,  and  as  their  authenticity  cannot  be 
doubted."1 

The  fact,  therefore,  of  this  most  interesting  piece  of  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  never 
having  appeared  at  length  in  any  of  the  many  Lives  of  the  Poet,  may  warrant  its 
insertion  in  our  RAMBLINGS.  It  is  connected  with  the  ELUCIDATION  OF  HIS  AUTO- 
GRAPH, inasmuch  as  Milton  there  enters  more  fully  than  elsewhere  upon  the  subject 
of  his  blindness,  an  affliction  that  deprived  him  of  the  personal  use  of  his  pen  for 
above  twenty  years  previous  to  his  decease,  during  which  time  the  energies  of  his 
ever  active  mind  were  called  into  almost  incessant  occupation,  rendered  doubly 
and  painfully  laborious,  owing  to  his  being  obliged  to  dictate,  word  by  word,  aye 
sometimes  letter  by  letter,  to  those  who  acted  as  his  Amanuenses. 

"  Let  us  now,"  wrote  Milton,  "  come  to  the  charges  which  were  brought  against  myself.  Is  there 
anything  reprehensible  in  my  manners  or  my  conduct  ?  Surely  nothing.  What  no  one,  not  totally 
divested  of  all  generous  sensibility,  would  have  done,  he  reproaches  me  with  want  of  beauty  and  loss 

of  sight. 

"  'A  monster  huge  and  hideous,  void  of  sight.' 

"  I  certainly  never  supposed  that  I  should  have  been  obliged  to  enter  into  a  competition  for 
beauty  with  the  Cyclops ;  but  he  immediately  corrects  himself,  and  says,  '  though  not  indeed  huge, 
for  there  cannot  be  a  more  spare,  shrivelled,  and  bloodless  form.'  It  is  of  no  moment  to  say  anything 
of  personal  appearance,  yet  lest  (as  the  Spanish  vulgar,  implicitly  confiding  in  the  relations  of  their 
priests,  believe  of  heretics)  any  one,  from  the  representations  of  my  enemies,  should  be  led  to  imagine 
that  I  have  either  the  head  of  a  dog,  or  the  horn  of  a  rhinoceros,  I  will  say  something  on  the  subject, 
that  I  may  have  an  opportunity  of  paying  my  grateful  acknowledgments  to  the  Deity,  and  of  refuting 
the  most  shameless  lies.  I  do  not  believe  that  I  was  ever  once  noted  for  deformity,  by  any  one  who 
ever  saw  me  ;  but  the  praise  of  beauty2 1  am  not  anxious  to  obtain.  My  stature  certainly  is  not  tall ; 
but  it  rather  approaches  the  middle  than  the  diminutive.  Yet  what  if  it  were  diminutive,  when  so 
many  men,  illustrious  both  in  peace  and  war,  have  been  the  same  ?  And  how  can  that  be  called 
diminutive,  which  is  great  enough  for  every  virtuous  achievement  ?  Nor,  though  very  thin,  WHS  I 
ever  deficient  in  courage  or  in  strength  ;  and  I  was  wont  constantly  to  exercise  myself  in  the  use  of 
the  broadsword,  as  long  as  it  comported  with  my  habits  and  my  years.  Armed  with  this  weapon,  as 
I  usually  was,  I  should  have  thought  myself  quite  a  match  for  any  one,  though  much  stronger  than 
myself ;  and  I  felt  perfectly  secure  against  the  assault  of  any  open  enemy.  At  this  moment  I  have 
the  same  courage,  the  same  strength,  though  not  the  same  eyes ;  yet  so  little  do  they  betray  any 
external  appearance  of  injury,  that  they  are  as  unclouded  and  bright  as  the  eyes  of  those  who  most 
distinctly  see.  In  this  instance  alone  I  am  a  dissembler  against  my  will.  My  face,  which  is  said  to 
indicate  a  total  privation  of  blood,  is  of  a  complexion  entirely  opposite  to  the  pale  and  the  cadaverous  ; 
so  that,  though  I  am  more  than  forty  years  old,  there  is  scarcely  any  one  to  whom  I  do  not  appear 
ten  years  younger  than  I  am ;  and  the  smoothness  of  my  skin  is  not,  in  the  least,  affected  by  the 
wrinkles  of  age.  If  there  be  one  particle  of  falsehood  in  this  relation,  I  should  deservedly  incur  the 
ridicule  of  many  thousands  of  my  countrymen,  and  even  many  foreigners  to  whom  I  am  personally 
known.  But  if  he,  in  a  matter  so  foreign  to  his  purpose,  shall  be  found  to  have  asserted  so  many 


1  Life  of  John  Milton,  by  Charles  Symmons, 
D.D.,  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford.     8vo.     1810. 

*  "  In  his  youth  he  is  said  to  have  been  ex- 
tremely handsome  ;  and  while  he  was  a  student 


at  Cambridge,  he  was  called '  The  Lady  of  Clirist's 
College;"  and  he  took  notice  of  this  himself  in 
one  of  his  public  Prolusions  before  that  Univer- 
sity. 1A  quibusdam  audivi  nuper  domiiui,'  "etc. — 
Life  of  Hilton,  by  Birch. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  27 


shameless  and  gratuitous  falsehoods,  you  may  the  more  readily  estimate  the  quantity  of  his  veracity 
on  other  topics.  Thus  much  necessity  compelled  me  to  assert  concerning  my  personal  appearance. 
Respecting  yours,  though  I  have  been  informed  that  it  is  most  insignificant  and  contemptible,  a 
perfect  mirror  of  the  worthlessnesB  of  your  character  and  the  malevolence  of  your  heart,  I  say  nothing, 
and  no  one  will  be  anxious  that  anything  should  be  said.  I  wish  that  I  could  with  equal  facility 
refute  what  this  barbarous  opponent  has  said  of  my  blindness ;  but  I  cannot  do  it ;  and  I  must  submit 
to  the  affliction.  It  is  not  so  wretched  to  be  blind,  as  it  is  not  to  be  capable  of  enduring  blindness. 
But  why  should  I  not  endure  a  misfortune,  which  it  behoves  every  one  to  be  prepared  to  endure  if  it 
should  happen ;  which  may,  in  the  common  course  of  things,  happen  to  any  man ;  and  which  has 
been  known  to  happen  to  the  most  distinguished  and  virtuous  persons  in  history.  Shall  I  mention 
those  wise  and  ancient  bards,  whose  misfortunes  the  gods  are  said  to  have  compensated  by  superior 
endowments,  and  whom  men  so  much  revered,  that  they  chose  rather  to  impute  their  want  of  sight  to 
the  injustice  of  heaven  than  to  their  own  want  of  innocence  or  virtue  ?  What  is  reported  of  the 
Augur  Tiresias  is  well  known ;  of  whom  Apollonius  sung  thus  in  his  Argonauts : 
"  '  To  men  he  dar'd  the  will  divine  disclose, 

Nor  fear'd  what  Jove  might  in  his  wrath  impose. 

The  gods  assigned  him  age,  without  decay, 

But  snatched  the  blessing  of  his  sight  away.' 

But  God  himself  is  truth ;  in  propagating  which,  as  men  display  a  greater  integrity  and  zeal,  they 
approach  nearer  to  the  similitude  of  God,  and  possess  a  greater  portion  of  his  love.  We  cannot 
suppose  the  deity  envious  of  truth,  or  unwilling  that  it  should  be  freely  communicated  to  mankind. 
The  loss  of  sight,  therefore,  which  this  inspired  sage,  who  was  so  eager  in  promoting  knowledge 
among  men,  sustained,  cannot  be  considered  as  a  judicial  punishment.  Or  shall  I  mention  those 
worthies  who  were  as  distinguished  for  wisdom  in  the  cabinet,  as  for  valour  in  the  field  ?  And  first, 
Timoleon  of  Corinth,  who  delivered  his  city  and  all  Sicily  from  the  yoke  of  slavery  ;  than  whom  there 
never  lived  in  any  age,  a  more  virtuous  man,  or  a  more  incorrupt  statesman :  next  Appius  Claudius, 
whose  discreet  counsels  in  the  senate,  though  they  could  not  restore  sight  to  his  own  eyes,  saved  Italy 
from  the  formidable  inroads  of  Pyrrhus  :  then  Coscilius  Metellus  the  high  priest,  who  lost  his  sight, 
while  he  saved,  not  only  the  city,  but  the  Palladium,  the  protection  of  the  city,  and  the  most  sacred 
relics,  from  the  destruction  of  the  flames.  On  other  occasions  Providence  has  indeed  given  conspicuous 
proofs  of  its  regard  for  such  singular  exertions  of  patriotism  and  virtue  ;  what,  therefore,  happened 
to  so  great  and  so  good  a  man,  I  can  hardly  place  in  the  catalogue  of  misfortunes.  Why  should  I 
mention  others  of  later  times,  as  Dandolo  of  Venice,  the  incomparable  Doge ;  or  Boemar  Zisca,  the 
bravest  of  generals,  and  the  champion  of  the  cross ;  or  Jerome  Zanchius,  and  some  other  theologians 
of  the  highest  reputation  ?  For  it  is  evident  that  the  patriarch  Isaac,  than  whom  no  man  ever 
enjoyed  more  of  the  divine  regard,  lived  blind  for  many  years  ;  and  perhaps  also  his  son  Jacob,  who 
was  equally  an  object  of  the  divine  benevolence.  And  in  short,  did  not  our  Saviour  himself  clearly 
declare  that  that  poor  man  whom  he  restored  to  sight  had  not  been  born  blind,  either  on  account  of 
his  own  sins  or  those  of  his  progenitors  ?  And  with  respect  to  myself,  though  I  have  accurately 
examined  my  conduct,  and  scrutinized  my  soul,  I  call  thee,  O  God,  the  searcher  of  hearts,  to  witness 
that  I  am  not  conscious,  either  in  the  more  early  or  in  the  later  periods  of  my  life,  of  having  committed 
any  enormity  which  might  deservedly  have  marked  me  out  as  a  fit  object  for  such  a  calamitous 
visitation.  But  since  my  enemies  boast  that  this  affliction  is  only  a  retribution  for  the  transgressions 
of  my  pen,  I  again  invoke  the  Almighty  to  witness  that  I  never,  at  any  time,  wrote  anything  which 
I  did  not  think  agreeable  to  truth,  to  justice,  and  to  piety.  This  was  my  persuasion  then,  and  I  feel 
the  same  persuasion  now.  Nor  was  I  ever  prompted  to  such  exertions  by  the  influence  of  ambition, 
by  the  lust  of  lucre  or  of  praise ;  it  was  only  by  the  conviction  of  duty  and  the  feeling  of  patriotism, 
a  disinterested  passion  for  the  extension  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Thus,  therefore,  when  I  was 
publicly  solicited  to  write  a  reply  to  the  Defence  of  the  royal  cause,  when  I  had  to  contend  with  the 
pressure  of  sickness,  and  with  the  apprehension  of  soon  losing  the  sight  of  my  remaining  eye,  and 


28  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


when  my  medical  attendants  clearly  announced,  that  if  I  did  engage  in  the  work,  it  would  be  irrepa- 
rably lost,  their  premonitions  caused  no  hesitation  and  inspired  no  dismay.  I  would  not  have  listened 
to  the  voice  even  of  Esculapius  himself  from  the  shrine  of  Epidauris,  in  preference  to  the  suggestions 
of  the  heavenly  monitor  within  my  breast ;  my  resolution  was  unshaken,  though  the  alternative  was 
either  the  loss  of  my  sight,  or  the  desertion  of  my  duty ;  and  I  called  to  mind  those  two  destinies, 
which  the  oracle  of  Delphi  announced  to  the  son  of  Thetis  : 

" '  Two  fates  may  lead  me  to  the  realms  of  night : 

If  staying  here,  around  Troy's  wall  I  fight, 

To  my  dear  home  no  more  must  I  return ; 

But  lasting  glory  will  adorn  my  urn. 

But,  if  I  withdraw  from  the  martial  strife, 

Short  is  my  fame,  but  long  will  be  my  life." — II.,  ix. 

I  considered  that  many  had  purchased  a  less  good  by  a  greater  evil,  the  meed  of  glory  by  the 
loss  of  life ;  but  that  I  might  procure  great  good  by  little  suffering :  that  though  I  am  blind,  I  might 
still  discharge  the  most  honourable  duties,  the  perfomance  of  which,  as  it  is  something  more  durable 
than  glory,  ought  to  be  an  object  of  superior  admiration  and  esteem  ;  I  resolved,  therefore,  to  make 
the  short  interval  of  sight,  which  was  left  me  to  enjoy,  as  beneficial  as  possible  to  the  public  interest. 
Thus  it  is  clear  by  what  motives  I  was  governed  in  the  measures  which  I  took,  and  the  losses  which 
I  sustained.  Let  then  the  calumniators  of  the  divine  goodness  cease  to  revile,  or  to  make  me  the 
object  of  their  superstitious  imaginations.  Let  them  consider,  that  my  situation,  such  as  it  is,  is 
neither  an  object  of  my  shame  or  my  regret,  that  my  resolutions  are  too  firm  to  be  shaken,  that  I  am 
not  depressed  by  any  sense  of  the  divine  displeasure  ;  that,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  most  momentous 
periods,  I  have  had  full  experience  of  the  divine  favour  and  protection ;  and  that,  in  the  solace  and 
the  strength  which  have  been  infused  into  me  from  above,  I  have  been  enabled  to  do  the  will  of  God  ; 
that  I  may  oftener  think  on  what  he  has  bestowed,  than  on  what  he  has  withheld ;  that,  in  short,  I 
am  unwilling  to  exchange  my  consciousness  of  rectitude  with  that  of  any  other  person ;  and  that  I 
feel  the  recollection  a  treasured  store  of  tranquillity  and  delight.  But,  if  the  choice  were  necessary, 
I  would,  sir,  prefer  my  blindness  to  yours ;  yours  is  a  cloud  spread  over  the  mind,  which  darkens 
both  the  light  of  reason  and  of  conscience ;  mine  keeps  from  my  view  only  the  coloured  surfaces  of 
things,  while  it  leaves  me  at  liberty  to  contemplate  the  beauty  and  stability  of  virtue  and  of  truth. 
How  many  things  are  there  besides  which  I  would  not  willingly  see ;  how  many  which  I  must  see 
against  my  will ;  and  how  few  which  I  feel  any  anxiety  to  see !  There  is,  as  the  apostle  has 
remarked,  a  way  to  strength  through  weakness.  Let  me  then  be  the  most  feeble  creature  alive,  as 
long  as  that  feebleness  serves  to  invigorate  the  energies  of  my  rational  and  immortal  spirit ;  as  long 
as  in  that  obscurity,  in  which  I  am  enveloped,  the  light  of  the  divine  presence  more  clearly  shines, 
then,  in  proportion  as  I  am  weak,  I  shall  be  invincibly  strong ;  and  in  proportion  as  I  am  blind,  I 
shall  more  clearly  see.  O  !  that  I  may  thus  be  perfected  by  feebleness,  and  irradiated  by  obscurity  ! 
And,  indeed,  in  my  blindness,  I  enjoy  in  no  inconsiderable  degree  the  favour  of  the  Deity,  who 
regards  me  with  more  tenderness  and  compassion  in  proportion  as  I  am  able  to  behold  notliiiig  but 
himself.  Alas  !  for  him  who  insults  me,  who  maligns  and  merits  public  execration  !  For  the  divine 
law  not  only  shields  me  from  injury,  but  almost  renders  me  too  sacred  to  attack ;  not  indeed  so  much 
from  the  privation  of  my  sight,  as  from  the  overshadowing  of  those  heavenly  wings  which  seem  to 
have  occasioned  this  obscurity ;  and  which,  when  occasioned,  he  is  wont  to  illuminate  with  an  interior 
light,  more  precious  and  more  pure.  To  this  I  ascribe  the  more  tender  assiduities  of  my  friends, 
their  soothing  attentions,  their  kind  visits,  their  reverential  observances;  among  whom  there  are 
some  with  whom  I  may  interchange  the  Pyladean  and  Thesean  dialogue  of  inseparable  friends : — 
"'OREST.  Proceed,  and  be  rudder  of  my  feet,  by  shewing  me  the  most  endearing  love.' — Eur!^.  in  Orest. 
And  in  another  place, — 

"  '  Lend  your  hand  to  your  devoted  friend, 

Throw  your  arm  round  my  neck,  and  I  will  conduct  you  on  the  way.' 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  29 


This  extraordinary  kindness,  which  I  experience,  cannot  be  any  fortuitous  combination ;  and 
friends,  such  as  mine,  do  not  suppose  that  all  the  virtues  of  a  man  are  contained  in  his  eyes.  Nor  do 
the  persons  of  principal  distinction  in  the  commonwealth  suffer  me  to  be  bereaved  of  comfort,  when 
they  see  me  bereaved  of  sight,  amid  the  exertions  which  I  made,  the  zeal  which  I  shewed,  and  the 
dangers  which  I  run  for  the  liberty  which  I  love.  But,  soberly  reflecting  on  the  casualties  of  human 
life,  they  shew  me  favour  and  indulgence,  as  to  a  soldier  who  has  served  his  time,  and  kindly  concede 
to  me  an  exemption  from  care  and  toil.  They  do  not  strip  me  of  the  badges  of  honour  which  I  have 
once  worn ;  they  do  not  deprive  me  of  the  places  of  public  trust  to  which  I  have  been  appointed  ; 
they  do  not  abridge  my  salary  or  emoluments  ;  which,  though  I  may  not  do  so  much  to  deserve  as  I 
did  formerly,  they  are  too  considerate  and  too  kind  to  take  away ;  and,  in  short,  they  honour  me  as 
much  as  the  Athenians  did  those  whom  they  determined  to  support  at  the  public  expense  in  the 
Prytaneum.  Thus,  while  both  God  and  man  unite  in  solacing  me  under  the  weight  of  my  affliction, 
let  110  one  lament  my  loss  of  sight  in  so  honourable  a  cause.  And  let  me  not  indulge  in  unavailing 
grief,  or  want  the  courage  either  to  despise  the  revilers  of  my  blindness,  or  the  forbearance  easily  to 
pardon  the  offence.  I  return  to  you,  sir,  whoever  you  may  be,  who,  with  a  remarkable  inconsistency, 
seem  to  consider  me  at  one  time  as  a  giant,  and  at  another  as  a  dwarf.  You  end  with  expressing 
your  wish  that  the  United  Provinces  may,  with  as  much  ease  and  as  much  success,  put  an  end  to  this 
war  as  Salmasius  will  put  an  end  to  Milton.  To  which  wish,  if  I  were  cheerfully  to  assent,  I  think 
that  I  should  not  omen  ill,  nor  ill  implore  for  our  success,  or  for  the  English  interest." 

In  another  part  of  his  defence,  Milton  again  refers  to  his  personal  history, 
adding  to  the  previous  interesting  details,  very  many  particulars  of  his  early  life. 

"  I  must,  therefore,  crave  the  indulgence  of  the  reader  if  I  have  said  already,  or  shall  say  here- 
after, more  of  myself  than  I  wish  to  say ;  that,  if  I  cannot  prevent  the  blindness  of  my  eyes,  the 
oblivion  or  the  defamation  of  my  name,  I  may  at  least  rescue  my  life  from  that  species  of  obscurity, 
which  is  the  associate  of  unprincipled  depravity.  This  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  do  on  more 
accounts  than  one  ;  first,  that  so  many  good  and  learned  men  among  the  neighbouring  nations,  who 
read  my  works,  may  not  be  induced  by  this  fellow's  calumnies  to  alter  the  favourable  opinion  which 
they  have  formed  of  me ;  but  may  be  persuaded  that  I  am  not  one  who  ever  disgraced  beauty  of 
sentiment  by  deformity  of  conduct,  or  the  maxims  of  a  freeman  by  the  actions  of  a  slave ;  and  that 
the  whole  tenor  of  my  life  has,  by  the  grace  of  God,  hitherto  been  unsullied  by  enormity  or  crime. 
Next,  that  those  illustrious  worthies,  who  are  the  objects  of  my  praise,  may  know  that  nothing  could 
afflict  me  with  more  shame  than  to  have  any  vices  of  mine  diminish  the  force  or  lessen  the  value  of 
my  panegyric  upon  them ;  and,  lastly,  that  the  people  of  England,  whom  fate,  or  duty,  or  their  own 
virtues,  have  incited  me  to  defend,  may  be  convinced,  from  the  purity  and  integrity  of  my  life,  that 
my  defence,  if  it  do  not  redound  to  their  honour,  can  never  be  considered  as  their  disgrace.  I  will 
now  mention  who  and  whence  I  am.  I  was  born  at  London,  of  an  honest  family ;  my  father  was 
distinguished  by  the  undeviating  integrity  of  his  life ;  my  mother,  by  the  esteem  in  which  she  was 
held,  and  the  alms  which  she  bestowed.  My  father  destined  me  from  a  child  to  the  pursuits  of 
literature ;  and  my  appetite  for  knowledge  was  so  voracious,  that,  from  twelve  years  of  age,  I  hardly 
ever  left  my  studies,  or  went  to  bed  before  midnight.  This  primarily  led  to  my  loss  of  sight.  My 
eyes  were  naturally  weak,  and  I  was  subject  to  frequent  head-aches  ;  which,  however,  could  not  chill 
the  ardour  of  my  curiosity,  or  retard  the  progress  of  my  improvement.  My  father  had  me  daily 
instructed  in  the  grammar-school,  and  by  other  masters  at  home.  He  then,  after  I  had  acquired  a 
proficiency  in  various  languages,  and  had  made  a  considerable  progress  in  philosophy,  sent  me  to  the 
University  of  Cambridge.  Here  I  passed  seven  years  in  the  usual  course  of  instruction  and  study, 
with  the  approbation  of  the  good,  and  without  any  stain  upon  my  character,  till  I  took  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts.  After  this  I  did  not,  as  this  miscreant  feigns,  run  away  into  Italy,  but  of  my  own 
accord  retired  to  my  father's  house,  whither  I  was  accompanied  by  the  regrets  of  most  of  the  fellows 
of  the  college,  who  shewed  me  no  common  marks  of  friendship  and  esteem.  On  my  father's  estate, 
where  he  had  determined  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  days,  I  enjoyed  an  interval  of  uninterrupted 


30  RAMBLIXGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OP 


leisure,  which  I  entirely  devoted  to  the  perusal  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics  ;  though  I  occasion- 
ally visited  the  metropolis,  either  for  the  sake  of  purchasing  books,  or  of  learning  something  new  in 
mathematics  or  in  music,  in  which  I,  at  that  time,  found  a  source  of  pleasure  and  amusement.     In 
this  manner  I  spent  five  years  till  my  mother's  death.     I  then  became  anxious  to  visit  foreign  parts, 
and  particularly  Italy.     My  father  gave  me  his  permission,  and  I  left  home  with  one  servant.     On 
my  departure,  the  celebrated  Henry  Wootton,  who  had  long  been  King  James's  ambassador  at 
Venice,  gave  me  a  signal  proof  of  his  regard,   in  an  elegant  letter  which  he  wrote,  breathing 
not  only  the  warmest  friendship,  but  containing  some  maxims  of  conduct  which  I  found  very 
useful  in    my  travels.      The   noble    Thomas    Scudamore,    King    Charles's  ambassador,   to   whom 
I  carried  letters  of  recommendation,  received  me  most  courteously  at  Paris.     His  lordship  gave 
me  a    card  of  introduction  to  the   learned   Hugo   Grotius,   at  that   time   ambassador  from   the 
queen  of  Sweden  to  the  French  court;   whose   acquaintance   I  anxiously  desired,   and  to  whose 
house    I    was    accompanied   by   some   of   his  lordship's    friends.      A    few    days    after,  when    I 
set  out  for  Italy,  he  gave  me  letters  to  the   English  merchants  on  my  route,  that  they  might 
shew  me  any  civilities  in  their  power.     Taking  ship  at  Nice,  I  arrived  at  Genoa,  and  afterward! 
visited  Leghorn,  Pisa,  and  Florence.     In  the  latter  city,  which  I  have  always  more  particularly 
esteemed  for  the  elegance  of  its  dialect,  its  genius,  and  its  taste,  I  stopped  about  two  months ;  when 
I  contracted  an  intimacy  with  many  persons  of  rank  and  learning,  and  was  a  constant  attendant 
at  their  literary  parties ;  a  practice  which  prevails  there,  and  tends  so  much  to  the  diffusion  of  know- 
ledge, and  the  preservation  of  friendship.     No  time  will  ever  abolish  the  agreeable  recollections 
which  I  cherish  of  Jacob  Gaddi,  Carolo   Dati,  Frescobaldo,  Cultellero,  Bonomatthai,  Clement illo, 
Francisco,  and  many  others.     From  Florence  I  went  to  Siena,  thence  to  Rome,  where,  after  I  had 
spent  about  two  months  in  viewing  the  antiquities  of  that  renowned  city,  where  I  experienced  the 
most  friendly  attention  from  Lucas  Holstein,  and  other  learned  and  ingenious  men,  I  continued  my 
route  to  Naples.    There  I  was  introduced  by  a  certain  recluse,  with  whom  I  had  travelled  from  Rome, 
to  John  Baptista  Manso,  marquis  of  Villa,  a  nobleman  of  distinguished  rank  and  authority,  to  whom 
Torquato  Tasso,  the  illustrious  poet,  inscribed  his  book  on  friendship.     During  my  stay,  he  gave  me 
singular  proofs  of  his  regard :   he  himself  conducted  me  round  the  city,  and  to  the  palace  of  the 
viceroy  ;  and  more  than  once  paid  me  a  visit  at  my  lodgings.     On  my  departure  he  gravely  apologized 
for  not  having  shewn  me  more  civility,  which  he  said  he  had  been  restrained  from  doing,  because 
I  had  spoken  with  so  little  reserve  on  matters  of  religion.     When  I  was  preparing  to  pass  over  into 
Sicily  and  Greece,  the  melancholy  intelligence  which  I  received  of  the  civil  commotions  in  England 
made  me  alter  my  purpose ;  for  I  thought  it  base  to  be  travelling  for  amusement  abroad,  while  my 
fellow-citizens  were  fighting  for  liberty  at  home.     While  I  was  on  my  way  back  to  Rome,  some 
merchants  informed  me  that  the  English  Jesuits  had  formed  a  plot  against  me  if  I  returned  to  Rome, 
because  I  had  spoken  too  freely  on  religion ;  for  it  was  a  rule  which  I  laid  down  to  myself  in  those 
places,  never  to  be  the  first  to  begin  any  conversation  on  religion ;  but  if  any  questions  were  put  to 
me  concerning  my  faith,  to  declare  it  without  any  reserve  or  fear.    I,  nevertheless,  returned  to  Rome. 
I  took  no  steps  to  conceal  either  my  person  or  my  character ;  and  for  about  the  space  of  two  months 
I  again  openly  defended,  as  I  had  done  before,  the  reformed  religion  in  the  very  metropolis  of  popery. 
By  the  favour  of  God,  I  got  safe  back  to  Florence,  where  I  was  received  with  as  much  affection  as  if 
I  had  returned  to  my  native  country.     There  I  stopped  as  many  months  as  I  had  done  before,  except 
that  I  made  an  excursion  for  a  few  days  to  Lucca ;  and,  crossing  the  Apennines,  passed  through 
Bologna  and  Ferrara  to  Venice.     After  I  had  spent  a  month  in  surveying  the  curiosities  of  this  city, 
and  had  put  on  board  a  ship  the  books  which  I  had  collected  in  Italy,  I  proceeded  through  Verona 
and  Milan,  and  along  the  Leman  lake  to  Geneva.     The  mention  of  this  city  brings  to  my  recollection 
the  slandering  more,  and  makes  me  again  call  the  Deity  to  witness,  that  in  all  those  places  in  which 
vice  meets  with  so  little  discouragement,  and  is  practised  with  so  little  shame,  I  never  once  deviated 
from  the  paths  of  integrity  and  virtue,  and  perpetually  reflected,  that,  though  my  conduct  might 
escape  the  notice  of  men,  it  could  not  elude  the  inspection  of  God.     At  Geneva,  I  held  daily  con- 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON.  31 


ferences  with  John  Deodati,  the  learned  professor  of  Theology.  Then  pursuing  my  former  route 
through  France,  I  returned  to  my  native  country,  after  an  absence  of  one  year  and  about  three 
months ;  at  the  time  when  Charles,  having  broken  the  peace,  was  renewing  what  is  called  the 
episcopal  war  with  the  Scots,  in  which  the  royalists  being  routed  in  the  first  encounter,  and  the  English 
being  universally  and  justly  disaffected,  the  necessity  of  his  affairs  at  last  obliged  him  to  convene  a 
parliament.  As  soon  as  I  was  able,  I  hired  a  spacious  house  in  the  city  for  myself  and  my  books ; 
where  I  again  with  rapture  renewed  my  literary  pursuits,  and  where  I  calmly  awaited  the  issue  of 
the  contest,  which  I  trusted  to  the  wise  conduct  of  Providence,  and  to  the  courage  of  the  people. 
The  vigour  of  the  parliament  had  begun  to  humble  the  pride  of  the  bishops.  As  long  as  the  liberty 
of  speech  was  no  longer  subject  to  control,  all  mouths  began  to  be  opened  against  the  bishops. 
Some  complained  of  the  vices  of  the  individuals,  others  of  those  of  the  order.  They  said  that  it 
was  unjust  that  they  alone  should  differ  from  the  model  of  other  reformed  churches  ;  that  the  govern- 
ment of  the  church  should  be  according  to  the  pattern  of  other  churches,  and  particularly  the 
word  of  God.  This  awakened  all  my  attention  and  my  zeal.  I  saw  that  a  way  was  opening  for 
the  establishment  of  real  liberty ;  that  the  foundation  was  laying  for  the  deliverance  of  man  from 
the  yoke  of  slavery  and  superstition  ;  that  the  principles  of  religion,  which  were  the  first  objects  of 
our  care,  would  exert  a  salutary  influence  on  the  manners  and  constitution  of  the  republic  ;  and  as 
I  had  from  my  youth  studied  the  distinctions  between  religious  and  civil  rights,  I  perceived  that  if  I 
ever  wished  to  be  of  use,  I  ought  at  least  not  to  be  wanting  to  my  country,  to  the  church,  and  to  so 
many  of  my  fellow- Christians,  in  a  crisis  of  so  much  danger ;  I  therefore  determined  to  relinquish 
the  other  pursuits  in  which  I  was  engaged,  and  to  transfer  the  whole  force  of  my  talents  and  my 
industry  to  this  one  important  object.  I  accordingly  wrote  two  books  to  a  friend  concerning  the 
reformation  of  the  Church  of  England.  Afterwards,  when  two  bishops  of  superior  distinction 
vindicated  their  privileges  against  some  principal  ministers,  I  thought  that  on  those  topics,  to  the 
consideration  of  which  I  was  led  solely  by  my  love  of  truth,  and  my  reverence  for  Christianity,  I  should 
not  probably  write  worse  than  those  who  were  contending  only  for  their  own  emoluments  and 
usurpations.  I  therefore  answered  the  one  in  two  books,  of  which  the  first  is  inscribed,  Concerning 
Prelatical  Episcopacy,  and  the  other,  Concerning  the  Mode  of  Ecclesiastical  Government ;  and  I 
replied  to  the  other  in  some  Animadversions,  and  soon  after  in  an  Apology.  On  this  occasion  it  was 
supposed  that  I  brought  a  timely  succour  to  the  ministers,  who  were  hardly  a  match  for  the  eloquence 
of  their  opponents  ;  and  from  that  time  I  was  actively  employed  in  refuting  any  answers  that 
appeared.  When  the  bishops  could  no  longer  resist  the  multitude  of  their  assailants,  I  had  leisure  to 
turn  my  thoughts  to  other  subjects  ;  to  the  promotion  of  real  and  substantial  liberty ;  which  is  rather 
to  be  sought  from  within  than  from  without ;  and  whose  existence  depends,  not  so  much  on  the  terror 
of  the  sword,  as  on  sobriety  of  conduct  and  integrity  of  life.  When,  therefore,  I  perceived  that  there 
were  three  species  of  liberty  which  are  essential  to  the  happiness  of  social  life — religious,  domestic, 
and  civil ;  and  as  I  had  already  written  concerning  the  first,  and  the  magistrates  were  strenuously 
active  in  obtaining  the  third,  I  determined  to  turn  my  attention  to  the  second,  or  the  domestic  species. 
As  this  seemed  to  involve  three  material  questions,  the  conditions  of  the  conjugal  tie,  the  education 
of  the  children,  and  the  free  publication  of  the  thoughts,!  made  them  objects  of  distinct  consideration." 

j|0  inquire  into  the  number  of  the  biographies  of  Milton,  would  be  almost 
as  great  a  waste  of  time  as  to  calculate  the  amount  of  useless  mental 
occupation  which  has  been  imposed  upon  themselves  by  Men,  distin- 
guished in  the  world  of  Literature,  who,  when  employed  in  detailing 
the  more  interesting  particulars  of  the  life  of  the  Poet,  have,  in  order 
to  give  an  appearance  of  originality  to  their  biographies,  endeavoured,  in  their 
relations,  to  make  their  readers  suppose  that  the  materials  were  collected  from  docu- 


32 


KAMBLINGS    IN   THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


ments  until  then  unknown.  Far  better  would  it  have  been,  had  all  the  Biographers 
of  Milton  been  content  to  have  depicted  the  prominent  features  of  his  life,  as 
delineated  by  himself.  What  has  been  added  even  by  the  most  learned  biographer 
of  the  Poet  to  that  which  we  have  quoted  from  his  own  Pen  ?  Nothing,- aye,  worse 
than  nothing;  for  in  many  instances,  they  have  so  embellished  the  facts  detailed  in 
the  Autobiography,  as  to  render  their  illustrations  more  fit  for  a  novel  than  an  honest 
narrative  of  the  life  of  the  Poet. 

What  biographer  of  Milton  is  there,  that  could  have  defended  the  controverted 
passages  of  the  life  of  the  Poet  with  so  much  effect  as  he  himself  has  done  ?  Milton 
commences  the  Memoir  of  his  life,  as  it  were,  from  a  boy.  From  boyhood  he  carries 
his  readers  to  his  rooms  at  College;  thence  to  the  varied  scenes  of  his  Continental 
Tour,  taken,  as  is  customary  in  the  present  day,  by  the  young  man  to  improve  his 
mind,  and  fit  him  for  the  duties  of  his  future  worldly  career.  Home  again,  the  Poet 
enters  into  the  causes  which  induced  him  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  political  and 
polemical  discussions  in  which  the  leading  men  of  his  country  were  then  engaged. 
He  honestly  states  the  views  he  had  espoused,  and  leaves  it  to  the  world  to  judge 
how  far  he  had  acted  otherwise  than  as  an  honest  man.  Milton  was  an  honest  man, 
if  ever  honest  man  there  was !  We  are  not  bound  to  coincide  with  his  views ;  yet, 
without  adopting  them,  we  may  venerate  his  character.  He  was  a  Man  of  the  Times ; 
and  to  the  power  of  his  pen  are  we  indebted  for  the  upholding  of  Protestantism, 
which,  in  his  time,  was  in  such  a  state  of  decline,  as  to  have  made  it  almost  a  matter 
of  chance,  whether  this  country  would  become  subject  to  the  authority  of  the  Pope, 
or  succumb  to  the  gloomy  rule  of  the  Fanatics  and  Ultra-Puritans. 

How  charming  it  is  to  read  of  a  man,  totally  bereft  of  sight,  acknowledging  the 
consolation  derived  by  the  constancy  of  his  friends.  While  alluding  to  the  fact  of 
his  services  having  been  rewarded  by  the  pecuniary  emoluments  they  merited,  he 
expressed  a  full  feeling  of  confidence  in  the  Master  he  had  served ;  not  then  dreaming 
that  a  time  might  arrive,  when  adverse  circumstances  might  render  it  necessaiy  for 
his  Master  to  curtail  those  acts  of  generosity  and  gratitude  which  had  previously 
distinguished  his  character.  This  is  placing  the  public  position  of  Cromwell  in  the 
most  favourable  light.  Had  he  so  many  claimants,  however,  upon  his  privy  puree 
for  services  of  a  darker  and  a  more  reproachable  nature,  in  procuring  the  condemna- 
tion of  his  King,  that  he  was  necessitated  to  forget  his  former  friend  and  pen-worn 
agent  ? 

While  posterity,  though  differing  in  opinion,  will  render  justice  to  the  character 
of  Milton,  it  may  still  admire  the  rigid  sternness  of  the  Usurper,  without  overlooking 
his  want  of  all  other  feeling  but  self-exaltation.  In  all  his  actions,  the  Usurper  had 
only  Cromwell  in  his  view;-while  Milton,  with  all  his  faults,  sought  no  more  than  the 
Independence  of  his  Countrymen.  > 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


33 


Y  supporting  the  views  and  acts  of  the  great  reformer  LUTHER,  the 
learned  and  powerful  pen  of  MELANCHTHON  contributed  far  more 
to  the  Reformation  of  the  Church  than  did  the  exertions  of  the 
belligerent  and  boisterous  adherents  of  Luther.  So  likewise  did 
the  pen  of  the  accomplished  scholar  MILTON  aid  the  revolutionary 
schemes  of  OLIVER  CROMWELL;  not  personally  in  the  actual 
transactions  of  the  day,  but  most  effectually  by  the  zeal  and 
learning  he  displayed  in  support  of  the  doctrines  he  had  publicly  avowed  in  1641. 

"  Cromwell,  who  at  that  time  personified  in  himself  the  citizens,  the  people,  the 
army,  the  fervour  of  religious  zeal,  the  national  pride  and  privileges,"  writes 
Lamartine,1  "became  the  Maccabseus  of  Milton's  imagination.  The  poet  attached 
himself  to  the  fortunes  of  the  Protector,  as  to  his  own  and  his  country's  destiny;  he 
saw  in  him  the  champion  of  the  people,  the  uprooter  of  monarchs,  and  a  new  judge 
of  Israel :  we  find  these  exact  expressions  in  his  political  writings  of  the  period,- 
Cromwell  was  the  sword,  while  Milton  wished  to  be  the  tongue  of  independence. 
Cromwell,  who  spoke  much,  but  always  badly,  and  had  neither  time  nor  leisure  to 
write,  hailed  with  eagerness  the  vigorous,  eloquent,  and  imaginative  talent  which 
sought  to  place  itself  at  his  service." 

The  published  works  of  Milton  between  the  years  1643  and  1649  are  not  so 
extensive  as  to  account  for  the  general  occupation  of  his  mind  during  that  period  ; 
nor  do  we  gather  from  his  numerous  biographers  any  information  upon  that  point. 
We  may  therefore  conclude  that  his  services  were  then  required  by  the  Parliament. 

The  destruction,  at  the  time  of  the  Restoration,  of  the  greater  portion  of  the 
Official  Documents  of  the  Government  during  the  period  of  the  Civil  War  and  the 
Commonwealth,  precludes  us  from  ascertaining  the  precise  period  when  Milton  was 
first  employed  by  the  Parliament.  His  pen  could  not  have  been  at  that  time  laid  up  ! 
The  Order  Books  of  the  Council  of  State  prove  that  Oliver  Cromwell  gave  him 
the  appointment  of  Latin  Secretary,  at  a  salary  of  nearly  300?.  a  year,  in  March 
164®;^  the  period  when  his  mind  was  employed  in  the  composition  of  his  answer 
to  the  Icon  JBasilike,  followed  almost  immediately  by  his  Defensio  pro  Populo 
Anglicano,  in  refutation  of  the  Defensio  Regia  of  Salmasius. 

Mr.  Keightley,  in  his  biography  of  the  Poet,  pp.  47-8,  refers  to  the  statement 
made  of  Milton  having  received  1,OOOZ.3  for  that  celebrated  rejoinder,  observing, 


1  Memoirs  of  Celebrated  Characters,  by  A.  de 
Lamartine.   2  vols.    1855.   Milton.   Vol.  ii.  p.  6. 

2  The  entry  in  the  Order-Book  is  dated  Mar.15. 

3  "  MILTON  was   rewarded  with  a  tJtowand 
pounds  for  this  performance." — "Life  of  Milton," 


by  Toland,  p.  89.  Toland  asserts  this  as  a  fact ; 
we  may,  therefore,  presume  that  to  have  then 
been  the  general  opinion.  The  matter  is  not 
touched  upon  by  E.  Phillips.  Toland  is  the  ear- 
liest biographer  who  mentions  it;  and,  appa- 
rently, with  authority.  Dr.  Johnson,  in  his  life 
of  the  Poet,  adopts  the  same  views. 


34  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


"  Of  this,"  lie  writes, "  there  is  no  proof,  neither  is  it  very  likely,  as  the  Council,  which  was  by  no 
means  noted  for  liberality,  probably  looked  upon  it  merely  as  a  part  of  the  duties  of  his  office ;  in  fact, 
he  himself  denies  it.  '  Tuque  scito  illas  opimitates  atque  opes,  quas  mihi  exprobras,  non  attigisse,  neque 
eo  nomine,  quo  maxime  accusas,  dbolo  factum  ditiorem.' — Defensio  Secunda.  They,  however,  gave  him 
what  cost  them  nothing, — their  thanks.  In  the  Council  Book  may  be  seen  as  follows :  '  1651  June  IS. 
Ordered  that  thanks  be  given  to  Mr.  Milton,  on  the  behalf e  of  the  Commonwealth,  for  his  good  services  done 
in  writing  an  answer  to  the  booke  of  Salmasius,  written  against  the  proceedings  of  the  ObwMmMoIft  of 
England.'  This,  however,  is  cancelled,  as  well  as  three  lines  following,  in  which  a  grant  of  money  is 
made  to  him :  and  then  comes  a  regular,  uncancelled  entry  in  these  words :  '  The  Councell  takeing 
notice  of  the  manie  good  services  performed  by  Mr.  John  Milton,  thfir  S<:cretariefor  Forreigne  Language*, 
t<i  this  State  and  Commonwealth,  particularlie  for  his  booke  in  vindication  of  the  Parliament  and  People 
of  England  against  the  calumnies  and  invectives  of  Salmasius,  liave  thought  fit  to  declare  their  resentment 
and  good  acceptance  of  t)te  same,  and  that  tJie  thanks  of  the  Councell  bee  returned  to  Mr.  Mylton,  and 
their  sense  represented  in  their  behalf  e.'  " 

Mr.  Keightley  has  omitted  the  important  part  of  the  order  following  the  first 
vote  of  thanks:  "And  it  is  ordered  that  y"  summ  of-  —  hundred  poundes  bee  given 
unto  him  as  a  reward  for  his  good  services  of  writeing  in  answer  to  Salmasius." 
Perhaps  he  never  saw  the  original.  His  notice  of  the  transaction  appears  to  have 
been  compiled  from  that  given  by  Archdeacon  Todd. 

The  six  lines  subjoined  are  from  a  letter  of  the  late  Robert  Lemon,  Esq.,  F.S.A., 
to  The  Very  Reverend  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Winchester,  dated  from  the  State  Paper 
Office,  May  1825,  the  period  when  Bishop  Sumner  was  occupied  in  editing  the  DE 
DOCTKINA  CHRISTIANA,  then  just  discovered. 

"A  blank  space,  in  the  original,  is  left  between  the  words  'of  and  'hundred,;' 
and  the  word  '  tenn'  has  been  filled  up  by  another  hand.  A  debate  appears  to  have 
ensued  on  this,  and  the  grant  of  money  was  cancelled.  Then  the  whole  of  the 
original  entry  of  thanks  was  also  cancelled;  and  two  pages  after,  just  before  the 
close  of  the  business  of  the  Council  of  State  on  that  day,  the  formal  and  enlarged 
vote  of  thanks  was  speedily  entered." 

We  are  much  indebted  to  the  present  Mr.  Lemon,  of  the  State  Paper  Office,  for 
this  communication.  We  make  use  of  it,  because  the  late  Mr.  Lemon  was  indefati- 
gable in  his  researches  for  the  Venerable  Archdeacon  Todd  and  Bishop  Sumner.  It 
is  here  very  evident  that  the  late  Mr.  Lemon  considered  the  sum  voted  to  have  been 
"  tenn"  hundred  pounds.  We  have  examined  the  original,  and  find  that  the  sum 
named  has  been  so  carefully  obliterated,  as  to  render  "it  impossible  to  say  for 
certainty  whether  it  be  tenn,  two,  or  one."  We  are  inclined  to  think  that  so  small  a 
sum  as  one  hundred  pounds  would  not  have  been  offered  to  such  a  man  as  Milton; 
more  particularly  for  such  service  as  he  at  that  time  specially,  and  previously,  had 
rendered  to  the  government. 

Toland  mentions  the  thousand  pounds  as  having  been  received  by  Mil  ton,  without 
any  remark ;  and  Lamartine,  considering  the  authority  of  Toland  to  be  a  guarantee 
for  the  fact,  writes :  "  Salmasius  had  received  one  hundred  pieces  of  gold  from  the 
King  of  France  for  blackening  the  murderers  of  the  King  of  England.  Milton 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTOK  35 


received  from  Cromwell  one  thousand  pieces  for  justifying  the  act."  Though  deeply 
admiring  and  upholding  Milton  for  his  patriotism,  Lamartine  remarks  :  "  Every 
phrase  of  Salmasius  smelt  of  the  lamp;  every  sentence  of  Milton  perspired  with 
blood."1 

Since  the  preceding  was  set  up  in  type,  we  have  thought  it  would  be  more 
satisfactory  to  present  to  our  readers  a  faithful  fac-simile  of  the  several  passages 
referred  to  in  the  Order  Book,  preceding  them  with  the  entry,  1648-9,  March  22, 
appointing  Milton  as  Secretary;  and  with  that  of  January  8,1649-50,  ordering  him  to 
prepare  an  answer  to  Salmasius.  Mr.  Tupper,  our  very  intelligent  artist,  has  accord- 
ingly, in  plate  A,  executed  them  with  the  same  ability  as  he  has  displayed  in  many 
of  the  subsequent  pages  of  fac-similes  in  the  Illustrations  of  the  Autograph  of  the 
Poet. 

We  give  the  subjoined  letter  from  Mr.  Tupper,  on  transmitting  a  proof  of  the 
fac-similes,  in  preference  to  any  observations  we  can  make  upon  the  subject,  except 
stating,  that  the  fac-simile  No.  3*  shews  what  Mr.  Tupper  considers  would  be  the 
original,  had  it  not  been  marked  over  with  the  vieiv  of  obliterating  it.  It  is  there  seen 
that  Mr.  Tupper  considers  the  sum  to  have  been  two  hundred  pounds.  We  are 
inclined  to  the  opinion  of  the  late  Mr.  Lemon,  because  we  do  not  think  it  would 
have  been  reported  and  believed  to  have  been  ten  hundred,  had  there  not  been  some 
grounds  for  such  an  opinion.  One  can  hardly  suppose  that  so  small  a  sum  as  two 
hundred  pounds  would  have  been  offered  to  Milton  for  such  special  service. 

"  South  Lambeth,  Surrey.     30  June  1860. 
"DEAR   SIR, 

"  I  have  traced  the  lines  which  appear  to  me  to  have  constituted 
the  writing  in  the  obliterated  portion  of  the  cancelled  Order  in  Council  of  1 8  June 
1651,  and  think  it  might  form  a  not  uninteresting  addition  to  the  plate  of  fac-simile 
of  that  Order. 

"  I  need  scarcely  say  that  this  tracing  is  the  result  of  most  careful  scrutiny ;  and 
I  was  extremely  sorry  to  find,  on  subsequent  comparison,  that  there  were  many 
differences  between  my  reading  and  that  of  Mr.  W.  D.  Hamilton,  as  printed  in  his 
recent  work  on  the  Milton  State  Papers.  This,  of  course,  induced  another  examina- 
tion; but  I  Was  unable  to  amend  anything.  And  on  submitting  my  reading  to 
Mr.  Hamilton,  he  most  generously  and  courteously  admitted  his  belief  in  its  correct- 
ness ;  remarking  on  the  only  really  debateable  point,  viz.,  the  word  '  two'  (two 
hundred  pounds),  that  I  was  the  first  person  who  had  read  it  so  :  some  having  read 
it  '  one,'  and  others  '  tenn.'  But  he  believed  I  was  right.  Since  this,  I  have  again 
examined  the  original  with  a  still  more  powerful  glass,  and  am  further  confirmed  in 
my  opinion. 

"  Whilst  on  this  subject,  it  might  be  noted  that  in  the  State  Paper  Office  there 

1  Memoirs  of  Celebrated  Characters,  by  A.  de  Lamartine.    2  vols.,  1854.   Milton,   Vol.  ii.,  p.  12. 


36  KAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


are  two  sets  of  Books  of  Orders  of  the  Council  of  State.  One  set  is  the  rough,  or 
'  Draft'  Order  Books,  in  which  the  Orders  appear  to  have  been  written  at  the  moment 
they  were  made.  This  set  seems  to  be  complete,  and  reaches  from  1648-9,  when  the 
Council  was  established,  to  21  March,  1656.  The  other  set  of 'Fair'  Order  Books, 
copied  fairly  from  the  former,  is  very  imperfect,  but  commences  at  the  same  time  as 
the  former,  and  extends  to  October,  1659.  One  hiatus  in  this  set  occurs  from  April 
to  December  1651:  hence  we  have  no  fair  copy  of  the  Orders  of  18  June  in  that 
year;  but  even  if  we  had,  the  one  of  which  I  have  been  speaking  would  not  have 
appeared,  inasmuch  as  it  was  evidently  cancelled  during  the  seance  of  the  Council, 
and  the  subsequent  Order,  No.  5  on  plate,  substituted. 

"  As  far  as  I  have  examined,  the  fair  copies  appear  to  have  been  made  verbatim, 
but  the  differences  in  spelling  are  numerous.  Archdeacon  Todd  seems  to  have 
printed  from  the  fair  copies,  but  is  not  very  accurate.  For  the  sake  of  uniformity, 
and  other  reasons,  I  have  taken  all  the  fac-similes  from  the  Drafts. 

"  I  remain,  dear  sir,  very  truly  yours, 

"G.  I.  F.  TUPPER. 

The  entries  in  the  Book  of  Orders  of  the  Council  of  State  during  the  Usurpation, 
prove  that  Milton  was  appointed  to  do  other  work  than  that  which  belonged  to  the 
duties  of  "Secretary  for  Foreign  Tongues."  As  early  as  March  26,  1649,  he  was 
requested  "to  make  some  observations  upon  a  paper  lately  printed,  called  "Old  and 
Neiv  Chains"  of  which  John  Lilburne  was  the  author.  Again,  on  the  28th  of  the 
same  month,  he  was  appointed  "to  make  observations  upon  the  complication  of 
interest  which  is  now  amongst  the  several  designers  against  the  peace  of  the 
Commonwealth."  Then  again  in  May  he  was  desired  to  "  examine  the  Papers  of 
Pragmaticus"  a  periodical,-the  "Mercurius  Pragmaticus? -wMieh  first  appeared  in 
1607.  On  January  8,  in  the  following  year,  he  was  requested  to  "confer  with  some 
printers  or  stationers  concerning  the  speedy  printing  of  this  booke,  and  gave  an 
accompt  of  what  he  had  done  therein  to  the  Councell."  The  "  booke"  was  one  for 
the  "  composing"  of  which,  in  the  entry  previous,  of  the  same  date,  Mr.  Thomas 
Waring  was  rewarded  with  one  hundred  pounds;  and  contained  "severall  examina- 
tions of  the  Bloody  Massacre  in  Ireland."  Whether  Milton  ever  saw  the  said  book 
through  the  press,  is  not  known ;  nor  is  its  existence  recorded  elsewhere  than  in  the 
Order  Book,  wherein,  on  the  day  referred  to,  it  is  also  ordered  that  Milton  "  doe 
prepare  something  in  answer  to  the  booke  of  Salmasius ;  and  when  he  hath  done  itt, 
bring  itt  to  the  Councell." 

That  Milton  was  employed  in  the  exercise  of  his  pen,  to  aid  the  Commonwealth, 
wherever  it  could  be  brought  to  bear,  is  very  evident.  It  would  appear  from  an 
Order,  February  2,  1650,  that  the  "Publique  Papers  belonging  to  the  Common- 
wealth," then  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Weckerlyn,  the  former  Secretary,  and  others,  be 
"  deli ver(ed)  to  Mr.  Milton." 


S^~T£^  ML  / 

iJftsLt  */vl  •  ,/rlMvn.  tU(, 


z  -• 


tn 


'      X    """ 
fcrv'La  / 


s^ffiL  (d<  n«.t/  t-4/hi 


/    / 

/*  ^t/  t//-*^  * 

^Vtnji^+ko^ 


+ 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTOX. 


June  22,  1650,  Milton  was  appointed  to  go  "To  the  Committee  of  the  Annie," 
and  desire  them  to  send  to  this  Councell  the  Booke  of  Examinations  taken  about  the 
risings  in  Kent  and  Essex."  He  was  further,  on  the  25th  of  the  month,  ordered  to 
"peruse  the  Examinations  taken  by  the  Army  concerning  the  insurrections  in 
Essex;  and  that  he  doe  take  heads  of  the  same,  to  the  end  the  Councell  may  judge 
what  is  to  be  taken  into  consideration."  This  was,  no  doubt,  the  employment  of 
Milton  that  was  considered  to  have  fitted  him  for  his  projected  appointment  of 
"Adjutant-General  in  Sir  William  Waller's  Army."  That  the  Council  highly 
estimated  the  abilities  of  the  Poet,  is  most  certain ;  for  on  the  following  day  he  was 
ordered  to  translate  the  "Declaration  of  the  Parliament  against  the  Dutch"  into 
Latin. 

Whether  the  sum  originally  proposed  to  be  given  to  Milton  was  ten,  two,  or  one, 
is  not  of  very  great  moment.  Certain  it  is  that  Milton  rejected  the  proffered  special 
payment.  How  it  ever  could  have  been  stated  otherwise,  is  astonishing,  as  the  very 
fact  of  cancelling  the  order  at  the  time  it  was  drafted,  removes  all  doubt  upon  the 
question.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  Milton  had  been,  in  his  official  capacity, 
specially  requested1  by  the  Council  of  State  to  write  an  answer  to  the  work  of  Salma- 
sius.  It  was  not  likely,  therefore,  that  he  would  consent  to  receive  payment  for  that 
work.  The  alteration  in  the  vote  of  thanks  was  no  doubt  made  at  his  own  insti- 
gation, and  probably  on  his  own  dictation.  Whether  Milton  was  in  the  private 
employ  of  the  Government  previous  to  his  appointment  as  Latin  Secretary,  is  not 
known.  It  has,  we  believe,  been  so  stated.  If  so,  he  no  doubt  received  some  emolu- 
ment for  his  services.  The  question  naturally  arises  as  to  whether  he,-  for  he  was  a 
poor  man,  and  working  hard  with  his  pupils  as  a  means  of  living,- received  any 
consideration  for  the  treatises  written  by  him,  and  published  before  the  appearance 
of  "The  Tenure  of  Kings  and  Magistrates,"  which  was  of  so  revolutionary  a 
tendency  that  it  has  been  omitted  in  nearly  every  edition  of  his  works.  It  is 
worthy  of  notice  that  Milton  afterwards  saw  reason  to  qualify  the  opinions  therein 
expressed;  for  in  Chapter  xvn.,  Book  II.,  of  his  "Treatise  of  the  Christian  Doctrine," 
there  occurs  an  extraordinary  remark,  one  totally  at  variance  with  his  previous 
views.  It  relates  to  the  "Obedience  towards  Magistrates."  Milton  there  affirms, 
"That  it  may  be  the  part  of  prudence  to  obey  the  commands  even  of  a  tyrant  in 
lawful  things;  or,  more  properly,  to  comply  with  the  necessity  of  the  times,  for  the 
sake  of  public  peace,  as  well  as  of  personal  safety,  I  am  far  from  denying."  On  this 
Bishop  Sumner  observes :  "  This  is  a  remarkable  passage,  considering  the  prominent 
part  taken  by  the  author,  not  only  against  the  monarchy,  but  against  the  monarch 
himself.  It  is  evident  that  his  experience  of  the  miseries  caused  by  the  civil  disturb- 


1  His  Nephew,  Edward  Phillips,  when  refer- 
ring to  this  fact,  as  also  that  of  Milton's  answer 
to  the  "Icon  Basilike,"  states  significantly  that 


his   Uncle   was  "obliged"  to   answer  the    two 
works.     Memoir,  1694,  p.  xxxi. 


38 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


ances  of  those  evil  times  had  taught  him  that  a  regard  to  the  general  good  might 
sometimes  render  a  temporary  sacrifice  of  abstract  rights  not  inconsistent  with  the 
sincerest  love  of  political  or  religious  liberty." 

Wonderfully  great  must  have  been  the  mental  powers  and  resources  of  Milton. 
Though  blind  for  several  years  previous  to  his  retiring  from  public  life,  he  fulfilled 
the  duties  of  Latin  Secretary  with  the  same  untiring  zeal  which  characterized  his 
early  life.  "  The  Letters  of  State  to  most  of  the  Sovereign  Princes  and  Republics  of 
Europe  during  the  Administration  of  the  Commonwealth  and  the  Protector  Oliver 
and  Richard  Cromwell,"  the  production  of  Milton  from  1649  to  May  1659,1  are 
remarkable  records  of  his  political  talent,  composed  as  they  were,  for  the  most  part, 
when  totally  bereft  of  sight. 

Not  one  man  in  ten  thousand  would  have  had  the  moral  courage  to  bear  up 
against  such  an  overwhelming  affliction.  Few  could  have  exclaimed,  as  Milton  so 
submissively  and  hopefully  did,  in  the  well-known  sonnet2  to  his  beloved  friend, 
CYEIAK  SKINNER,- a  sonnet  written  after  the  first  three  years  of  his  blindness: 

— "  Yet  I  argue  not 

Against  Heav'n's  hand  or  will,  nor  bctte  a  jot 
Of  heart  or  hope." 

It  is  generally  believed,  that,  at  the  period  of  the  Eestoration,  Milton  was  reduced 
almost  to  poverty ;  and,  also,  that  had  it  not  been  for  the  powerful  influence  of  Sir 
William  Davenant,3  one  of  the  special  favourites  of  Charles  II,  he  would  in  all 
probability  have  shared  the  fate  of  those  who  had  taken  a  far  less  prominent  part 
against  their  sovereign.  With  the  view  of  proving  the  pecuniary  distress  of  the  Poet 
at  that  period,  it  is  related4  that 

"  In  1791  died  Jonathan  Hartop,  of  the  village  of  Aldborough,  near  Borough-bridge  in  Yorkshire, 
at  the  great  age  of  138.  He  is  said  to  have  lent  Milton  fifty  pounds  soon  after  the  Restoration,  which 
the  bard  returned  him  with  honour,  though  not  without  much  difficulty,  as  his  circumstances  were 
very  low.  Mr.  Hartop  would  have  declined  receiving  it ;  but  the  pride  of  the  poet  was  equal  to  his 
genius,  and  he  sent  the  money  with  an  angry  letter,  which  was  found  among  the  curious  possessions 
of  that  venerable  old  man.  This  curious  anecdote  of  Milton  had  appeared  in  'Tin' 


1  They  were,  for  the  most  part,  composed 
after  1652,  when  Milton  was  totally  blind. 

4  The  sonnet  is  given  in  fac-simile  in  the 
illustration  of  the  Trinity  College  MS.,  towards 
the  close  of  this  work. 

3  "Milton  is  supposed  to  have  had  powerful 
friends  both  in  Council  and  Parliament,  as  Secre- 
tary Morice,  Sir  Thomas  Clarges,  and  Andrew 
Marvell.  But  the  principal  instrument  in  obtain- 
ing Milton's  pardon  is  said  to  have  been  Sir 
William  Davenant,  who,  when  he  was  taken 


prisoner  in  1650,  had  been  saved  by  Milton's 
interest ;  and  who  now,  in  grateful  return  for  so 
signal  an  obligation,  interceded  for  the  life  of 
Milton.  This  story  has  been  related  by  Richard- 
son upon  the  authority  of  Pope,  who  received  it 
from  Betterton,  the  protege  of  Davenant.  Au- 
brey, in  his  manuscript  Life  of  Davenant,  ascribes 
his  safety,  without  mention  of  Milton,  to  two 
Aldermen  of  York."— "Poetical  Works  of  Mil- 
ton," by  Todd.  Vol.  i.,  pp.  101-2. 

4  Easton's  Human  Longevity.     8vo.     Salis- 
bury.    1799.     Pp.  241-2. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


39 


Chronicle  and  Staffordshire  Advertized  of  March  31,  1790  ;  Mr.  Hartop  then  being  living,  and  the 
letter  described  as  extant."1 

It  must,  however,  have  been  some  years  after  the  Eestoration  when  Milton 
borrowed  the  money  alluded  to;  because,  if  J.  Hartop  died  in  1791,being  one  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  years  old,  he  would  have  been  at  that  time  only  seven  years  of  age  ! 

Upon  Milton's  then  pecuniary  position,  we  avail  ourselves  of  what  Mr.  Keightley 
has  compiled  from  the  various  statements  made  by  the  biographers  of  the  Poet. 

"  With  respect  to  the  worldly  circumstances  of  this  great  man,  little  is  known  with  certainty. 
It  is  evident  that  during  his  travels,  and  after  his  return,  the  allowance  made  him  by  his  father  was 
liberal.  It  was  adequate,  we  may  see,  to  the  support  of  himself  and  his  two  nephews  ;  for  it  was  not 
likely  that  his  sister  paid  him  anything  for  them.  He  must  also  have  considered  himself  able  to 
support  a  family  without  keeping  school,  when  he  married  Miss  Powell.  He  of  course  inherited  the 
bulk  of  his  father's  property ;  but  of  the  amount  of  it  we  are  ignorant :  all  we  know  is  that  it  included 
the  interest  in  his  house  in  Bread-street.  His  losses  were  not  inconsiderable.  A  sum  of  £2,000, 
which  he  had  invested  in  the  Excise  Office,  was  lost  at  the  Eestoration,  as  the  Government  refused  to 
recognize  the  obligations  of  the  Commonwealth.  According  to  the  account  of  his  granddaughter,  he 
lost  another  sum  of  £2,000,  by  placing  it  in  the  hands  of  a  money  scrivener ;  and  he  also  lost,  at  the 
Restoration,  a  property  of  £60  a  year  out  of  the  lands  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Westminster, 
which  he  very  probably  had  purchased.  His  house  in  Bread-street  was  destroyed  by  the  great  fire. 
The  whole  property  which  he  left  behind  him,  exclusive  of  his  claim  on  the  Powell  family  for  his  first 
wife's  fortune,  and  of  his  household  goods,  did  not  exceed  £1,500,  including  the  produce  of  his  library, 
a  great  part  of  which  he  is  said  to  have  disposed  of  before  his  death."* 

The  learned  Biographer  here  states  that  the  marriage  of  Milton  with  Miss  Powell 
made  him  an  independent  man  :  but  he  forgot  that  Milton  never  received  the  1,OOOZ. 
he  was  to  have  had  with  his  wife.  The  Nuncupative  Will  Papers  prove  that. 

There  is  a  current  report  that  Milton,  on  the  first  outbreak  of  popular  feeling 
against  the  Regicides,  felt  it  necessary  to  conceal  himself  for  a  time,  and  have  it  given 
out  that  he  was  dead !  We  have  read  the  majority  of  the  lives  of  the  Poet,  and  find 
that  this  circumstance  is  occasionally  noticed,  but  evidently  without  much  credence, 
by  some  of  his  biographers. 

"  His  removal,"  relates  his  nephew,  "  was  by  the  advice  of  those  that  wisht  him  well  and  had  a 
concern  for  his  preservation,  into  a  place  of  retirement  and  abscondence,  till  such  time  as  the  current 
of  affairs  for  the  future  should  instruct  him  what  farther  course  to  take  ;  it  was  a  friend's  house  in 
Bartliolomew-Close,  where  he  liv'd  till  the  Act  of  Oblivion  came  forth ;  which  it  pleased  God  prov'd  as 
favourable  to  him  as  could  be  hop'd  or  expected,  through  the  intercession  of  some  that  stood  his  friends 
both  in  Council  and  Parliament ;  particularly  in  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr.  Andrew  Marvel,  a 
Member  for  Hull,  acted  vigorously  in  his  behalf,  and  made  a  considerable  party  for  him  ;  so  that, 
together  with  John  Goodwin  of  Coleman-street,  he  was  only  so  far  excepted  as  not  to  bear  any  office 
in  the  Commonwealth."3 

To  the  plain  facts  related  by  Phillips  are  the  biographers  of  Milton  mainly 
indebted  for  their  information ;  but  we  suspect  that  few  of  them  have  ever  read  the 
original.  As  is  generally  the  case,  they  have  contented  themselves  with  the  perusal 


1  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  by  Todd.   6  vols. 
1842.     Vol.  i.,  p.  161. 


z  Life  of  Milton,  by  Keightley,  p.  75. 

3  Letters  of  State,  1694,  pp.  xxxvii.  and  xxxviii. 


40 


RAMBLIXGS    IX  THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


of  what  the  most  recent  biographers  of  their  time  have  written,  and  have  produced 
their  memoirs  from  the  facts  their  predecessors  have  collected  together.  There  are 
very  few  biographies  that  do  not  exhibit  party  feeling.  The  man  to  whose  judgment 
the  acts  of  Milton  should  be  referred,  ought  to  be  perfectly  unbiassed,  weighing, 
as  a  judge,  the  evidence  on  all  sides  impartially.  There  is  no  period  in  English 
history  more  imperfect,  or  more  barren  of  truth,  than  that  during  the  Rebellion. 
Hence  the  difficulty  of  a  just  decision.  In  all  the  accounts  of  that  eventful  time, 
Historians,  according  to  their  own  particular  views,  omit  the  notice  of,  or  pass 
slightly  over,  facts  that  would  materially  affect  their  partizanship. 

LAMARTINE,  than  whom  no  man,  as  an  honest  republican,  is  more  respected, 
appears  to  have  been  fully  persuaded  of  the  truth  of  the  incident  referred  to ;  and 
accordingly  we  find  it  again  recorded  in  his  Memoir  of  the  Poet,  together  with  other 
subsequent  particulars,  for  the  authority  of  which  he  unfortunately  gives  no  reference. 

"  The  restoration  of  Charles  the  Second,"  writes  Lamartine,  "  surprised  him  in  the  midst  of  his 
labours,  rendered  nugatory  by  the  treason  of  the  army,  which  first  conquered,  and  then  sold  their 
country.  Charles  was  not  by  nature  vindictive  ;  he  was  only  thoughtless.  He  extended  amnesty  to 
all,  even  to  the  regicides ;  but  his  return  called  back  the  Royalists  to  Parliament ;  and  they,  like  all 
partizans,  were  implacable.  They  outraged  the  natural  gentleness  of  the  young  king,  and  demanded 
from  him  heads  and  proscriptions.  Milton,  who  had  steeped,  if  not  his  hands,  at  least  his  pen,  in  the 
blood  of  the  late  monarch,  and  the  massacres  of  Ireland,  more  atrocious  than  those  of  September 
1792,  hastened  to  hide  himself  in  the  hope  of  being  forgotten.  He  resigned  liis  office,  and  retired 
into  an  obscure  suburb  of  London,  to  allow  time  for  the  vengeance  of  his  enemies  to  pass  away.  After 
a  short  interval,  to  efface  his  name  effectually  from  the  remembrance  of  the  Royalists,  he  gave  out 
that  he  was  dead ;  and  while  still  in  existence,  superintended  the  ceremony  of  his  own  funeral.  To 
this  subterfuge  he  was  indebted  for  his  life.  He  was  not  discovered  until  the  first  fury  of  reaction 
had  become  satiated,  and  in  some  measure  exhausted  by  indulgence.  From  his  own  windows  he  had 
beheld  the  body  of  Cromwell  dug  up  by  the  common  executioner,  paraded  through  the  streets  of 
London,  and  exposed  to  the  insults  of  the  populace." 

"  Charles  the  Second  heard  of  the  retreat  of  Milton,  and  pretended  to  believe  in  the  reality  of  his 
death.  He  had  no  desire  to  stain  the  commencement  of  his  reign  with  the  execution  of  one  of  those 
men  destined  to  immortality,  whose  blood  would  cry  for  vengeance  through  future  ages." 

"  He  even  offered  to  reinstate  him  in  his  office  of  Government  Advocate,  if  he  would  devote  his 
talents  to  the  cause  of  monarchs.  His  second  wife  intreated  him  to  comply  with  this  proposal.  '  You 
are  a  woman,'  replied  Milton,  '  and  your  thoughts  dwell  on  the  domestic  interests  of  our  house  :  I 
think  only  of  posterity,  and  I  will  die  consistently  with  my  character.'  By  this  time  his  affairs  had 
declined  into  poverty,  approaching  to  indigence.  His  eyes,  ever  weak,  had  almost  entirely  lost  their 
light.1  When  he  ventured  out,  he  was  supported  by  the  arm  of  one  of  his  daughters.  Charles  the 
Second,  one  day  when  taking  a  ride,  met  him  in  St.  James's  Park,  and  inquired  who  was  that  hand- 
some, blind  old  man.  He  was  told  it  was  Milton.  He  approached,  and  addressing  the  ancient 
secretary  of  Cromwell  in  a  tone  of  bitter  irony,  said,  '  Heaven,  sir,  has  inflicted  this  chastisement  on 
yon,  for  having  participated  in  the  murder  of  my  father !'  '  Sire,'  replied  the  aged  sufferer  with 
manly  boldness,  '  if  the  calamities  which  befal  us  here,  are  the  punishment  of  our  faults,  or  of  the  sins 
of  our  parents,  your  own  father  must  have  been  very  culpable,  for  you  yourself  have  endured  much 
misfortune.'  The  king  passed  on  silently,  and  expressed  no  offence  at  the  answer."2 


1  Lamartine  here   forgets  that  Milton   was 
totally  bund  at  that  period. 


3  Memoirs  of  Celebrated  Characters,  by  Al- 
phonse  de  Lamartine.     2  vols. :  1854.     J/ 
Vol.  ii.,  pp.  14-15. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OP    MILTON. 


41 


I  HE  PARDON  OF  MILTON,  by  KING  CHARLES  II.  was  one  of  those  remark- 
able and  fortuitous  acts  that  occasionally  occur  in  the  History  of 
Nations;  an  intervention,  as  it  were,  of  special  Providence.  While 
every  effort  of  the  Government  was  being  made  for  the  apprehension 
and  punishment  of  the  Regicides,  and  even  within  a  few  months  after 
the  revolutionary  works  of  Milton1  had  been  condemned  to  be  "  publicly  burned  by 
the  common  hangman,"2  the  heart  of  the  King  was  softened  towards  their  author. 
But  for  that  act  of  royal  magnanimity,3  JOHN  MILTON,  as  a  Poet,  would  have  been 
now  only  known  as  the  author  of  a  few  juvenile  and  minor  productions  ! 

On  the  retirement  of  Milton  into  private  life,  the  design  of  his  "  immortal" 
poem,  PARADISE  LOST,  was  resuscitated.  "  THEN,"  as  that  elegant  and  deeply  read 
Historian,  HALLAM,  most  powerfully  and  most  enthusiastically  writes  : 

"THE  REMEMBRANCE  OF  EARLY  READING  CAME  OVER  HIS  DARK  AND  LONELY 
PATH  LIKE  THE  MOON  EMERGING  FROM  THE  CLOUDS.  THEN  IT  WAS  THAT  THE  MUSE 
WAS  TRULY  HIS;  NOT  ONLY  AS  SHE  POURED  HER  CREATIVE  INSPIRATION  INTO  HIS 
MIND,  BUT  AS  THE  DAUGHTER  OF  MEMORY,  COMING  WITH  FRAGMENTS  OF  ANCIENT 
MELODIES;  THE  VOICE  OF  EURIPIDES  AND  HOMER  AND  TASSO,- SOUNDS  THAT  HE  HAD 
LOVED  IN  YOUTH,  AND  TREASURED  UP  FOR  THE  SOLACE  OF  HIS  AGE."4 


1  On  the  12th  of  August  a  Royal  Proclama- 
tion appeared  for  the  suppression  of  Milton's 
Answer  to  Salmasius  and  to  the  Icon  Basilike, 
as  also  of  a  work  by  Goodwin,  ordering  the  same 
to  be  burned.  The  Proclamation  recites  : 
"  And  whereas  the  said  John  Milton  and  John 
Goodwin  are  both  fled,  or  so  obscure  themselves 
that  no  endeavours  used  for  their  apprehension 
can  take  effect,  whereby  they  might  be  brought 
to  legal  tryal,  and  deservedly  receive  condign 
punishment  for  their  treasons  and  offences." 

*  "  Likewise  how  wounderfully  was  Mr.  John 
Milton,  who  writ  the  seditious  Antimonarchial 
Book  against  the  king,  in  answer  to  Learned 
Salmasius,  strucken  blind  soon  after,  and  could 
never  since  by  any  art,  or  skill,  either  recover 
his  sight,  or  preserve  his  Books  from  being 
burned  by  the  hands  of  the  common  Hang- 
man."— "The  Traytor's  Perspective  Glass,"  by 
J.  T.,  Gent,  4to.,  1662. 

WINSTAJJLEY,  a  contemporary  of  Milton,  and 
author  of  "England's  Worthies,"  1660,  and  of 


"TJie  Lives  of  the  English  Poets"  is  much  more 
severe  than  the  preceding  author,  J.  T.,  by  some 
thought  to  be  John  Taylor  the  Water-Poet. 
Winstanley  devotes  only  a  few  lines  to  the  life 
of  Milton,  observing :  "  But  his  fame  is  gone  out 
like  a  Candle  in  a  Snuff,  and  his  Memory  will 
always  stink,  which  might  have  ever  lived  in 
honourable  Repute,  had  he  not  been  a  notorious 
Traytor,  and  most  impiously  and  villanously  be- 
ly'd  that  blessed  Martyr  King  Charles  the  First." 
—"Lives  of  the  English  Poets."  1687.  8vo.,p.  195. 

3  The  Return  of  Charles  II.  was  at  first 
marked  by  many  noble  acts ;  but,  at  a  later 
period,  his  feelings  of  gratitude,  to  those  who 
really  had  served  him  in  his  exile,  were  not  much 
overburdened.  Yet  withal,  as  Dr.  Johnson 
observes  in  the  Life  of  Milton,  the  world  has 
had  no  other  example  of  such  lenity  as  that 
shewn  by  the  King  towards  the  Poet. 

1  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  Europe. 
Vol.  iv.,  chap.  v. 


42  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OP 


RE  we  proceed  to  the  ELUCIDATION  OF  THE  AUTOGRAPH  OF  MILTON, 
we  are  led,  consequent  on  our  EAMBLINGS  in  the  preceding  pages, 
to  the  consideration  of  the  position  of  Scientific  and  Literary 
Men  and  Artists  in  this  country  during  the  last  hundred  years. 

It  is  now  just  about  a  century  since  OLIVER  GOLDSMITH, 
one  of  the  popular  writers  and  poets  of  his  day,  when  struggling 
under  difficulties  rarely  exceeded  in  the  life  of  his  contemporaries, 
issued  anonymously,  in  1759,  the  second  production  of  his  pen,  "An  Enquiry  into 
tlie  Present  State  of  Polite  Learning."  In  that  Essay  he  devotes  the  tenth  chapter 
to  the  subject  "Of  rewarding  Genius  in  England."  Those  who  read  the  works  of 
that  eminent  author  without  being  aware  that  the  one  in  question  was  almost  the 
first  he  had  written,  would  naturally  consider  that  the  opinion  of  such  an  author 
ought  to  be  regarded  with  much  respect.  Goldsmith,  however,  was  at  that  time  just 
emerging  from  the  drudgery  of  his  apprenticeship  to  Literature ;  and  seeing  no 
prospect  of  realizing  a  position  among  the  distinguished  men  around  him,  he  resolved 
on  returning  to  the  Medical  Profession,  to  which  his  first  studies  had  been  devoted. 
He  had  been  appointed,  in  1758,  a  Physician  to  one  of  the  Factories  in  India;  and 
in  order  to  obtain  the  means  for  his  equipment,  he  had  recourse  to  publishing  by 
subscription  the  Essay  above  mentioned,- written  under  the  feeling  of  disappointed 
ambition.  Accordingly  he  opens  the  chapter  alluded  to  by  deploringly  stating  : 

"  There  is  nothing  authors  are  more  apt  to  lament,  than  want  of  encouragement  from  the  age. 
Whatever  their  differences  in  other  respects,  they  are  all  ready  to  unite  in  this  complaint,  and  each 
indirectly  offers  himself  as  an  instance  of  the  truth  of  his  assertion. 

"  The  beneficed  divine,  whose  wants  are  only  imaginary,  expostulates  as  bitterly  as  the  poorest 
author.  Should  interest  or  good  fortune  advance  the  divine  to  a  bishopric,  or  the  poor  son  of  Par- 
nassus into  that  place  which  the  other  has  resigned,  both  are  authors  no  longer :  the  one  goes  to 
prayers  once  a  day,  kneels  upon  cushions  of  velvet,  and  thanks  gracious  Heaven  for  having  made  the 
circumstances  of  all  mankind  so  extremely  happy :  the  other  battens  on  all  the  delicacies  of  life, 
enjoys  his  wife  and  his  easy  chair,  and  sometimes,  for  the  sake  of  conversation,  deplores  the  luxury 
of  these  degenerate  days. 

"  All  encouragements  to  merit  are  therefore  misapplied,  which  make  the  author  too  rich  to 
continue  his  profession.  There  can  be  nothing  more  just  than  the  old  observation,  that  authors,  like 
running  horses,  should  be  fed,  but  not  fattened.  If  we  would  continue  them  in  our  service,  we  should 
reward  them  with  a  little  money  and  a  great  deal  of  praise,  still  keeping  their  avarice  subservient  to 
their  ambition.  Not  that  I  think  a  writer  incapable  of  filling  an  employment  with  dignity.  I  would 
only  insinuate,  that  when  made  a  bishop  or  statesman,  he  will  continue  to  please  us  as  a  writer  no 
longer ;  as,  to  resume  a  former  allusion,  the  running  horse,  when  fattened,  will  still  be  fit  for  very 
useful  purposes,  though  unqualified  for  a  courser. 

"  No  nation  gives  greater  encouragements  to  learning  than  we  do ;  yet  at  the  same  time  none  are 
so  injudicious  in  the  application.  We  seem  to  confer  them  with  the  same  view  that  statesmen  have 
been  known  to  grant  employments  at  court,  rather  as  bribes  to  silence  than  incentives  to  emulation. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTOX.  43 


"  The  poet's  poverty  is  a  standing  topic  of  contempt.  His  wanting  for  bread  is  an  unpardonable 
offence.  Perhaps  of  all  mankind,  an  author  in  these  times  is  used  most  hardly.  We  keep  him  poor, 
and  yet  deride  his  poverty.  Like  angry  parents  who  correct  their  children  till  they  cry,  and  then 
correct  them  for  crying,  we  reproach  him  for  living  by  his  wit,  and  yet  allow  him  no  other  means  to 
live." 

After  referring  to  the  sad  end  of  the  Poet  Collins,  Goldsmith  feelingly  adds  : 

"  It  is  enough  that  the  age  has  already  produced  instances  of  men  pressing  foremost  in  the  lists 
of  fame,  and  worthy  of  better  times,  schooled  by  continued  adversity  in  an  hatred  of  their  kind,  flying 
from  thought  to  drunkenness,  yielding  to  the  united  pressure  of  labour,  penury,  and  sorrow ;  sinking 
unheeded,  without  one  friend  to  drop  a  tear  on  their  unattended  obsequies,  and  indebted  to  charity 
for  a  grave. 

"  The  author,  when  unpatronized  by  the  Great,  has  naturally  recourse  to  the  bookseller.  There 
cannot  be,  perhaps,  imagined  a  combination  more  prejudicial  to  taste  than  this.  It  is  the  interest  of 
the  one  to  allow  as  little  for  writing,  and  of  the  other  to  write  as  much  as  possible  ;  accordingly, 
tedious  compilations  and  periodical  magazines  are  the  result  of  their  joint  endeavours.  In  these 
circumstances  the  author  bids  adieu  to  fame,  writes  for  bread,  and  for  that  only  imagination  is  seldom 
called  in.  He  sits  down  to  address  the  venal  Muse  with  the  most  phlegmatic  apathy  ;  and  as  we  are 
told  of  the  Russian,  courts  Ms  mistress  by  falling  asleep  in  her  lap.  His  reputation  never  spreads  in 
a  wider  circle  than  that  of  the  trade,  who  generally  value  him,  not  for  the  fineness  of  his  compositions 
but  the  quantity  he  works  off  in  a  given  time. 

"  A  long  habit  of  writing  for  bread  thus  turns  the  ambition  of  every  author  at  last  into  avarice. 
He  finds  that  he  has  written  many  years,  that  the  public  are  scarcely  acquainted  even  with  his  name, 
he  despairs  of  applause,  and  turns  to  profit  which  invites  him.  He  finds  that  money  procures  all 
those  advantages,  that  respect,  and  that  ease,  which  he  vainly  expected  from  fame.  Thus  the  man  who, 
under  the  protection  of  the  Great,  might  have  done  honour  to  humanity,  when  only  patronized  by  the 
bookseller  becomes  a  thing  little  superior  to  the  fellow  who  works  at  the  press." 

Violent  \vas  the  language  of  the  disappointed  author,  written  by  him  "  in  a 
wretched,  dirty  room,  in  which  there  was  but  one  chair."  Yet,  with  all  his  sufferings, 
Goldsmith  thought  better  than  to  proceed  to  India.  Whether  his  appeal  had  any 
influence  on  improving  his  pecuniary  condition,  is  not  recorded,  more  than  that  soon 
after  the  publication  referred  to,  "  he  removed  to  very  decent  lodgings  in  Wine  Office 
Court,  Fleet-street,"  where  he  wrote  his  far-famed  "  Vicar  of  Wakefield ;"  and  for 
which,  through  the  intervention  of  his  neighbour,  Dr.  Johnson,  he  obtained  from 
Newberry,  the  bookseller,  the  sum  of  sixty  pounds.  But  for  that  circumstance 
Goldsmith  would  have  been  sent  to  prison,  being  then  under  arrest !  Thus  was  he 
relieved  from  his  difficulties  by  the  very  hands  of  those  he  had  so  recently  abused. 
The  receipt  of  five  hundred  pounds  from  "  honest"  Tom  Davies,  the  bookseller,  a  few 
years  after,  for  his  "History  of  England,"  proved  to  Goldsmith  that  an  author  worthy 
of  employment,  though  perhaps  "only  patronized  by  the  bookseller,"  could  attain  a 
position  in  society,  rather  than  become  "a  thing  little  superior  to  the  fellow  who 
works  at  the  press." 

DRYDEN  the  Poet  was  another  among  many  of  the  self-made  unhappy  men  of 
the  day,  who  had  not  the  prudence  of  reserving  a  portion  of  the  produce  arising  from 
the  successful  labours  of  their  pens  as  a  provision  for  old  age;  and  accordingly,  when 
reduced  almost  to  abject  penury,  we  are  not  surprised  at  his  using  very  much  the 

_ 


44  KAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


same  reproachful  language  as  Goldsmith,  when  in  similar  circumstances,  emphatically 
observing  :  "  It  will  continue  to  be  the  ingratitude  of  mankind,  that  they  who  teach 
wisdom  by  the  surest  means,  shall  generally  live  poor  and  unregarded ;  as  if  they 
were  born  only  for  the  public,  and  had  no  interest  in  their  o\vn  well-being,  but  were 
to  be  lighted  up  like  tapers,  and  wasted  themselves  for  the  benefit  of  others." 

Numerous  as  were  the  celebrated  Men  in  this  country  during  the  eighteenth 
century,  there  were  few,- as  compared  with  those  of  the  preceding  and  present 
centuries,-who  could  have  claimed  a  right  to  some  special  recognition  of  their  talent. 
Now-a-days,  the  whole  civilized  world  teems,  as  it  were,  with  intellectual  spirits. 
England  takes  precedence  of  all  other  countries  in  every  branch  of  Science,  Literature, 
and  Art.  Those  pursuits  are  now  adapted,  not  only  to  the  intuitive  and  most 
refined  tastes;  but  to  those  whose  minds  and  whose  eyes  are  at  first  incapable  of 
appreciating  the  higher  order,  yet  are  soon  enabled,  by  the  progressively  educational 
examples  placed  before  them,  to  distinguish  the  different  degrees  of  perfection. 

Never,  in  the  history  of  mankind,  was  the  "love  of  learning"  so  universal  as  now. 

"MANY  SHALL  RUN  TO  AND  FRO;  AND  KNOWLEDGE  SHALL  BE  INCREASED."  "Let  us  see,"  writes 
DR.  GUMMING,  one  of  the  most  popular  theologians  of  our  day,  "  how  literally  descriptive  these  words 
are  of  the  present  moment.  'Knowledge  shall  be  increased.'  A  change  has  taken  place  amid  the 
masses  of  mankind,  immense  and  unmistakeable.  Never  was  the  spread  of  knowledge  so  earnest  a 
pursuit ;  never  was  the  passion  for  it  so  ardent,  enthusiastic,  and  universal.  The  folio  that  was  of 
old  written  for  the  few,  is  now  expanded  into  tracts  for  the  many.  The  Libraries  of  Ptolemy,  or  of 
Alexandria,  are  now  the  circulating  libraries  in  every  neighbourhood.  Systems  of  divinity  and 
learning  that  were  once  banked  up  in  Universities,  have  now  burst  their  embankments,  and  millions 
slake  their  thirst  where  thousands  sipped  deliciously  before.  If  ever  in  any  age,  it  is  in  the  present 
that  knowledge  has  become  almost  universal.  Not  many  years  ago,  '  provincial'  meant  a  man  who 
was  barbarous  in  taste,  deficient  in  learning.  I  venture  to  say  that  the  provinces  now  contain  as 
enlightened  people  as  the  metropolis.  '  Unpolite'  literally  means  living  out  of  the  city ;  and  those 
men  were  called  impolite,  or  barbarous,  or  uncultivated,  who  were  not  citizens  of  no  mean  city.  But 
now  the  people  outside  of  London  are  at  least  as  polite  as  those  that  are  within  the  walls.  Encourage- 
ment is  now  given  to  literature  such  as  was  never  given  before.  I  instance  the  enormous  sums  that 
Scott,  Byron,  and  others  have  received  for,  in  one  respect,  evanescent  and  ephemeral,  though  brilliant, 
productions.  Compare  with  this  the  fact  that  Petrarch  and  Dante  wrote  their  poems  in  exile  ;  that 
Ariosto  and  Tasso  lived  in  want,  and  one  died  in  despair ;  that  Cervantes  had  to  beg  his  bread  ;  that 
Galileo  had  to  confess  that,  after  all,  the  sun  went  round  the  earth,  in  order  to  gratify  the  prejudices 
of  the  Pope,  and  get  bread,  and  escape  imprisonment,  and  probably  death.  Milton  sold  his  copyright 
of  Paradise  Lost  for  five  pounds.  At  present  half  the  Bench  of  Bishops  consist  of  the  sons  of  petty 
tradesmen  and  shopkeepers  in  England.  The  Lord  Chief  Justice  at  this  moment  is  the  son  of  a 
Scottish  parish  minister.  And  you  will  find  that  our  highest  nobility,  instead  of  looking  down  with 
contempt  and  derision  upon  those  who  have  won  their  way  to  the  high  and  sunny  levels  of  the  world, 
rejoice,  and  hail  them  as  successful  candidates  and  brothers.  The  broad  sheet,  at  the  present  day,  is 
part  of  your  breakfast  table  ;  and  so  dissatisfied  are  men  with  the  present  supply  of  it  every  day,  in 
every  town,  that  the  House  of  Commons  has  passed  a  Bill  for  giving  it,  as  they  suppose,  larger 
circulation,  and  spreading  it  with  still  greater  facility.  The  distant  transactions  of  east,  west,  north, 
south,  are  reflected  day  by  day  from  the  broad  sheet.  We  have  arrived,  in  this  matter,  at  the 
maximum  of  possible  attainments  :  we  cannot  go  beyond  them.  Schools  also  of  a  higher  order  are 
springing  up  in  every  direction.  A  few  years  ago,  if  a  man  failed,  and  was  unsuccessful  as  a  shop- 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


45 


keeper,  he  was  pronounced  good  enough  to  be  a  schoolmaster.  Now-a-days  the  schoolmaster  occupies 
a  dignified  position  ;  he  is  trained  and  educated  for  his  office  ;  and  I  question  if  one  schoolmaster 
does  not  contribute  as  much  to  the  well-being  of  the  country  as  many  a  venerable  and  good  bishop. 
Knowledge  is  increasing  in  all  directions  :  the  schoolmaster  and  the  press — the  latter  an  engine  of 
tremendous  power — are  spreading  far  and  wide  that  light  which  we  do  not  fear  but  hail."1 

In  an  article2  that  appeared  a  few  weeks  since  in  the  Literary  Gazette,  the  writer 
very  forcibly  remarks  upon  the  subject  under  consideration  : 

"  We  contend  that  there  is  no  want  of  respect  towards  literature  in  this  country  :  we  are  not  so 
engrossed  in  the  getting  of  wealth  as  to  be  indifferent  to  literary  and  artistic  eminence.  Would 
Macaulay  have  been  a  lord,  or  Scott,  Davy,  Lawrence,  Alison,  and  Bulwer  Lytton,  baronets,  had  they 
not  been  distinguished  in  art,  science,  and  literature  ?  Is  he  not  frequently  lifted  far  above  his  natural 
position,  and  not  rendered  the  happier  for  it  ?  Would  it  have  added  to  the  comfort  of  Burns  if  he 
had  every  day  '  dinnered  wi'  a  lord'?  Do  we  not  habitually  look  for  something  like  equality  of  social 
condition  in  our  intimates  ;  and  this  for  our  own  comfort,  and  without  much  regard  to  their  ability 
or  the  want  of  it  ?  In  short,  cceteris  paribus,  do  we  not  honour  literary  eminence  as  much  as  we  can  ? 
The  man  who  has  written  a  volume  of  essays  is  not,  therefore,  a  more  desirable  companion  for  the 
great  dignitary  of  the  State,  or  the  wealthy  landed  proprietor ;  nor  is  the  latter  a  more  agreeable 
companion  for  the  litterateur.  If  there  be  any  sympathy  of  feeling  between  them,  they  will  associate  ; 
if  not,  companionship  would  be  worse  than  useless. 

"  The  complaint  that  literature  is  not  respected,  arises  out  of  the  mistake  which  we  have  exposed, 
that  there  is  a  literary  class,  and  that  the  purveyors  of  light  literature  are  its  members.  A  great  deal 
has  been  said  of  the  way  in  which  men  of  letters  are  honoured  in  Prance  and  Germany ;  but  there  is 
little  or  no  reason  for  it.  There  is  more  reading  in  both  those  countries  than  in  our  own ;  and 
writers,  therefore,  are  better  paid.  But  as  to  social  distinction,  the  case  is  very  much  as  it  is  among 
ourselves.  Germany  had  a  Humboldt ;  France  has  a  Cuvier ;  England  has  a  Macaulay.  If  Lamartine 
were  the  head  of  a  provisional  government,  Milton  was  a  Secretary  of  State.3  If  Guizot,  a  Prime 
Minister,  has  written  history  ;  so  did  Fox.  Both  were  statesmen  before  all  things  ;  and  if  we  wish  to 
make  out  claims  for  a  literary  class,  as  such,  we  shall  assuredly  fail.  Those  only  deserve  to  be  called 
'literary  men,'  who,  in  their  own  day,  give  the  world  the  fruits  of  careful  study,  as  well  as  of  original 
genius.  These  do  not  complain  of  the  treatment  they  meet  with  ;  nor  have  they,  for  the  most  part, 
reason  to  do  so.  They  will  represent  the  literature  of  the  age  when  the  age  itself  has  passed  away, 
and  will  be  embalmed  in  the  grateful  memories  of  future  generations." 

The  Higher  Branches  of  Intellectuality  are  the  result  of  the  progressive  cultiva- 
tion of  the  faculties  graciously  bestowed  by  the  All- Wise  Creator  on  the  Human  Race  : 

"All  heart  they  live,  all  head,  all  ear, 
All  intellect,  all  sense"  - 

are  words,  in  whatever  sense  they  were  used  by  Milton,  which  can  be  equally  applied 
to  Man  and  Animals  that  have  come  within  the  influence  of  educational  power. 


The  End,  by  the  Rev.  John  Cumming,  D.D. 
1856.     Pp.  133-5. 

2  "The  Literary  Character."     The  Literary 
Gazette,  September  17,  1859. 


3  The  author  of  this  article  here  commits  a 
mistake.  Though  there  is  no  question  that  Mil- 
ton virtually  fulfilled  the  duties  of  Secretary  of 
State,  in  addition  to  those  of  Latin  Secretary  to 
the  Council,  the  latter  was  the  only  appointment 
officially  held  by  him. 


46  RAMBLIXGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


Wonderfully  marvellous  are  the  nice  distinctions  between  Intellect  and  Sctgaciti/,- 
Reason  and  Instinct. 

As  in  the  several  Species  of  Animals  there  are  various  degrees  of  excellence  in 
their  nature,  so  with  the  Human  Race.  The  Creator  designed  that  Man  should  be 
dependent,  as  in  all  the  other  works  of  the  Creation,  upon  his  fellow  man,  involving, 
in  the  working  of  the  whole,  one  system  of  perfection.  Accordingly,  as  the  various 
portions  of  the  Globe  became  inhabited  by  the  human  race,  man  in  each  portion 
was,  by  Divine  Providence,  specially  adapted  to  it.  In  the  Aborigines  of  all  nations 
there  have  always  been  found  some  exhibiting  a  greater  degree  of  perfection, 
corporeally  and  mentally,  than  others.  There  will  be  seen,  even  among  the  most 
unenlightened  and  savage  of  Men,  of  some  of  whom  it  might  be  remarked,  "  How 
different  that  man  is  from  all  the  others,-what  noble  bearing,  and  what  an  intellectual 
countenance  !"  And  on  inquiry  it  will  perhaps  be  found,  that  that  very  man  has 
some  intuitive  feeling  of  superiority  over  all  his  neighbours.  Whence  could  such  a 
feeling  have  arisen,  but  from  the  design  of  the  Creative  Power  in  permitting  it  to  be 
specially  distinguishable  ? 

Thus  the  Origin  of  the  Pride  of  Man,-Man,  the  Pride  of  His  Creator  !  Unless 
by  the  introduction  of  foreign  blood,  the  different  species  of  the  human  race  have  not 
varied  since  the  period  of  their  first  known  existence.  Civilization  may  alter  their 
habits,  and  education  may  improve  their  intellectual  powers;  yet,  as  far  as  regards 
their  variety,  their  nature  is  the  same,  however  much  it  may  appear  to  be  altered. 

"  Blood"  is  as  much  discernible  and  traceable  in  Man  as  in  the  Horse,  one  of  the 
higher  order  of  animals.  The  aboriginal  Arab  horse  that  existed  in  the  earliest 
days,  remains  in  that  country  and  other  spots  in  the  East,  the  same.  Imported  else- 
where, it  mixes  its  blood  with  all  other  breeds,  constituting  varieties  of  excellence 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  animals  with  which  it  becomes  associated.  In  a  pair 
of  perfectly  pure  Arab  Horses  bred  in  this  country,  the  difference  that  is  perceptible 
in  their  appearance  arises  only  from  the  climate.  Take  the  pair  back  to  their  native 
land,  and  their  stock  will  be  as  before.  What  can  be  more  remarkable  than  the 
purity  of  blood  in  the  different  and  endless  varieties  of  Dogs  1  What  interesting 
anecdotes  might  be  related  of  Setters  having  been  produced  by  Pointers,  and  vice 
versa;  the  two  varieties  on  either  side  not  having  had  any  connexion  with  each 
other,  a  cross  having  perhaps  taken  place  several  generations  before.-Breeding  back  ! 

The  distinctiveness  exhibited  in  the  races  of  men  in  different  countries  is  so 
complete,  that,  whatever  changes  may  take  place  in  their  social  condition,  there  will 
always  be  found  sufficient  remaining  of  the  original  stock  to  mark  their  identity. 
That  the  general  character  of  a  particular  race  becomes  materially  altered  by  its 
intermixture  with  foreign  blood,  is  most  true;  and  nowhere  is  that  more  dis- 
cernible than  in  England.  If  in  this  country  we  desire  to  seek  examples  of  pure 
Saxon  blood,  we  must  not  expect  to  find  them  among  the  wealthier  classes  of  the 
community.  We  must  visit  the  middle  classes  far  deep  in  those  parts  of  the  land 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


47 


where  many  families  can  trace  their  genealogies  with  much  more  correctness, 
centuries  earlier,  than  any  recorded  in  the  Heralds'  College.  So  likewise  with  those 
of  Norman1  descent,  whence  sprung  what  is  termed  the  Aristocracy  of  the  Country. 
You  will  seek  in  vain  for  pure  examples  in  the  greater  portion  of  the  Koyal  and 
Noble  Personages  of  England.  Their  blood  has  been  so  intermixed  with  that  of 
foreign  nations,  that  very  little  trace  of  their  original  extraction  is  discernible.  Their 
very  nature,  as  it  were,  has  changed;  and  few  there  are  of  such  families,  that,  without 
their  paraphernalia  of  external  decoration,  could  be  exhibited  as  presenting  the  noble 
character  for  which  the  Norman  was  celebrated  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  There  is 
no  lack,  however,  of  that  blood  even  now-a-days.  There  are  in  the  land  of  "  the  True 
Old  English  Gentleman,"- some  in  wealthier  positions  of  society,  and  many  in  very 
humble  life,- thousands,  who,  without  having  intermarried  out  of  their  own  stock,  can 
trace  the  same  features,  the  same  dispositions,  the  same  pursuits,  the  same  diseases, 
the  same  virtues,  aye,  and  the  same  vices  for  centuries.  In  some  one  of  each  family 
such  characteristics  will  be  found  to  have  descended,  thus  perpetuating  the  general 
character  of  the  original  stock.  Many  believe  that  the  force  of  education  and 
example  is  such,  as  that  any  person,  selected  from  parents,-however  low  in  position, 
and  remarkable  for  their  coarseness  of  body  and  general  bearing,- if  brought  up  with 
all  the  delicacies  and  tutorial  care  that  could  be  bestowed  upon  him,  would  entirely 
lose  the  nature  of  his  own  parents,  and  would  partake  in  every  respect  of  all  the 
characteristics  of  a  high-bred  man.  It  is  a  great  mistake. 

"  Naturam  expelles fared,  tamen  usque  recurret."-~H.O'R.,  Ep.  i.  10. 

It  is  also  an  absurdity  to  suppose  that  the  offspring  of  those  who  have  become 
celebrated  as  warriors,  statesmen,  poets,  authors,  architects,  etc.,  should  be  equally 
distinguished.  They  would  exhibit  naturally  but  little  of  the  same  character,  except 
as  intuitively  derived  from  their  after  intercourse  with  their  parents;  though  many 
cases  might  be  found  in  which  the  genius  of  the  father  has  developed  itself  in  the 
son  without  the  smallest  educational  influence  or  even  presence  of  the  former.  Such 
are  the  gifts  of  Nature,  and  as  unfathomable  to  the  mind  of  man  as  its  spiritual 
existence  within  his  own  body. 

Inscrutable  is  the  wisdom  of  the  Almighty  in  all  the  details  of  the  Creation. 
That  it  has  pleased  God  to  bestow  upon  some  men,  in  all  countries,  superiority  over 
their  fellows,  is  a  fact  that  cannot  but  be  allowed ;  and  while  raising  men  to  such  a 
distinction,  a  re-creative  power  may  be  exercised  whereby  the  constitution  of  the 
being  is  altogether  altered.2  In  the  Government  of  the  World,  Man  is  destined  to 


1  Pure  Norman  descent  is  nowhere  more  con- 
spicuous than  in  the  Channel  Islands. 

2  We  have  often  remarked  that  the  character- 
istic  physiognomy  of  the  Jew  becomes   more 


softened,  and  his  general  bearing  considerably 
altered,  after  having  embraced  the  Christian 
religion.  The  subject  is  one  worthy  of  the  con- 
sideration of  Physiognomists  and  writers  on 

Ethnology. 


4-S  K  AMBLINGS    IN  THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


to  take  part  according  to  the  position  allotted  to  him  by  the  dispensation  of  Divine 
Providence ;  and  the  higher  his  position,  the  greater  his  responsibility.  He  was  not 
empowered  to  tyrannize  over  his  fellow  creatures,  nor  to  consider  himself  as  of  a 
distinct  creation ;  forgetting  that  a  time  would  come  when  those  whom  he  had  looked 
upon  as  of  a  quality  inferior  to  his  own,  and  below  his  notice,  might  be  as  much  and 
more  exalted  than  himself.  It  is  the  absence  of  common  PHILANTHROPY  in  the 
hearts  of  many  of  those  on  whom  Providence  has  lavishly  bestowed  the  world's  titles, 
riches,  and  luxuries,  that  produces  so  much  unhappiness  in  this  transitory  life.  It 
ever  has  been  so,  and  will  probably  be  so,  as  long  as  this  dispensation  continues. 
That  detestable  and  worldly  purse-proud  feeling  exhibited  by  some  of  the  empty- 
headed  wealthy  landed  proprietors,  county  families,  and  the  richer  men  in  all 
occupations,  whether  as  servants  of  the  public,  professional,  or  in  business,  is  only 
equalled  by  that  most  unhappy  and  most  selfish  Vanity  which  frequently  takes  root 
in  the  minds  of  those  to  whom  the  Almighty  has  been  more  than  ordinarily  bountiful 
in  the  expansion  of  their  intellectual  powers,  as  exhibited  in  the  numerous  branches 
of  Literature,  Science,  and  Art.  It  is  melancholy  to  observe  with  what  contempt 
some  of  those  who  have  been  more  successful  than  others  in  obtaining  the  praise, 
the  titles,  and  the  emoluments  of  the  world,  look  down  upon  their  fellow  labourers 
in  the  vineyard.  If  such  Men  could  only  be  brought  seriously  to  consider  the 
humble  position  that  their  God  and  Saviour  took  upon  himself  in  order  to  point  out 
to  them  the  folly  and  littleness  of  worldly  pride,  they  would  act  somewhat  differently 
towards  their  less  fortunate  brethren.  The  trade  of  a  Carpenter,  emblematical  of  the 
Creation  of  the  Universe,  was  not  considered  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  Divine 
Builder  of  the  Temple,- the  Corner  Stone  of  our  Faith.  As  in  the  Productions  of 
Nature  there  are  found  many  varieties  of  excellence,  so  are  there  gradations  in  the 
Productions  of  Intellect,- gradations  equally  fitted  to  be  appreciated  and  to  be 
respected.  Let,  therefore,  none  bow  down  their  heads  in  the  lowliness  of  their  own 
estimation,  but  let  them  be  thankful  that  whatever  little  good  the  increase  of  intel- 
lectuality allotted  to  them  has  enabled  them  to  do,  they  are  indebted  solely  to  the 
influence  of  that  Holy  Spirit,  the  working  of  which  "passeth  all  understanding." 

The  Rewards  and  Honours  that  have  been  received  by  Men  distinguished  for 
the  beneficial  use  of  their  Genius  and  Intellect,  are  far  more  extended  in  this  than  in 
any  other  country,  though  at  the  same  time  we  cannot  but  join  in  the  feeling  that 
a  plain  and  untitled  "Order  of  Merit"  would  be  unmistakeably  received  as  one  of 
the  most  gratifying  distinctions  that  could  be  awarded  to  those  who  either  for 
pleasure  or  profit  render  themselves  useful  in  the  cultivation  of  the  mind. 

The  Appendix  at  the  close  of  this  work  will  form,  we  hope,  a  not  uninteresting 
record  of  the  Honours  bestowed  during  the  last  two  hundred  years  on  Men  remark- 
able for  their  excellence  in  the  use  of  their  Intellectual  Powers. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTOX. 


49 


THE    JUVENILE    AND    OTHER    POEMS    OF    MILTON. 

AUTOGRAPH    MANUSCRIPT   IN   TRINITY   COLLEGE   LIBRARY, 

CAMBRIDGE. 


fig 


HOMAS  WARTON,  B.D.,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford -Poet 
Laureate,- author  of  "The  History  of  English  Poetry"  and  many 
other  learned  works,  may  be  said  to  be  almost  the  only  editor  of 
the  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  who  has  given  anything  like  a 
detailed  account  of  this  most  peculiarly  interesting  Autographic 
Memorial  of  the  Poet.     Nearly  all  the  Milton  biographers  and 
commentators  make  mention  of  it  more  or  less.    Very  few  of  them 
appear  to  have  examined  it  with  any  degree  of  care,  and  many  of  them  not  to  have 
even  seen  it. 

We  must  not,  however,  omit  noticing  that  the  very  learned  and  Venerable 
Archdeacon  Todd,  in  his  "  Variorum"  edition1  of  the  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  has, 
at  the  close  of  the  poems  which  occur  in  the  Cambridge  Manuscript,  given,  as  Warton 
did,  a  careful  collation  of  the  alterations  and  erasures  made  by  the  author. 

Warton,  at  the  end  of  his  edition  of  the  Poems  of  Milton,  has  many  pages 
devoted  to  "  ORIGINAL  VARIOUS  READINGS,"  taken  from  that  Autograph  Memorial 
which  forms  the  basis  of  our  present  investigation,  introducing  it  to  his  readers  by 
the  subjoined  prefatory  remark  respecting  the  accidental  discovery  of  the  manuscript: 

"  In  the  Library  of  Trinity  College  Cambridge,  is  a  thin  folio  manuscript,  marked  MISCELL.  R.  ii. 
49.  It  is  splendidly  bound,  and  to  the  inside  of  one  of  the  covers  is  pasted  a  paper  with  this 
inscription,2  '  Membra  haec  eruditissimi  et  pene  Divini  Poetro  olim  misere  disjecta  et  passim  sparsa, 
postea  vero  fortuito  inventa,  et  in  usum  denuo  collecta  a  CAROLO  MASON  ejusdem  Collegii  Socio,  et 
inter  Miscellanea  reposita,  ea  qua  decuit,  Religione  conservare  voluit  THOMAS  CLARKE,  nuperrime 
hujusce  Collegii  nunc  vero  Medii  Temple  Londini  Socius,  1736.' 

"  Doctor  Mason,  above  mentioned,  who  was  also  Woodwardian  professor  at  Cambridge,  found 


1  The  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  with  Notes 
of  Various  Authors.  To  which  are  added  Illus- 
trations, and  some  Account  of  the  Life  and 
Writings  of  Milton.  By  the  Rev.  Henry  J. 
Todd,  M.A.,  F.A.S.,  Rector  of  Allhallows,  Lom- 
bard-street, etc.  7  vols.  8vo.,  1809. 

Unless  noting  any  of  the  new  biographical  and 
other  particulars  contained  in  the  last  edition  of 
"  Todd' a  Milton,"  4  vols.,  1842,  our  references  will 
be  made  to  the  edition  here  quoted. 

"  The  words,  an  insertion  at  a  later  period, 
stating  that  the  sheets  now  forming  the  volume 


were  collected  together  by  Dr.  Mason,  are  within 
parentheses.  Warton  has  not  given  the  inscrip- 
tion with  that  accuracy  we,  as  bibliographers, 
desire  to  see.  The  subjoined  is  a  correct  tran- 
script of  the  original  as  contained  in  the  volume  : 
"  Lib.  Trin.  Coll.  Cantabr.  Membra  ha?c  erudi- 
tissimi et  pcene  Divini  Poetse  olim  misere  dis- 
jecta et  passim  sparsa,  postea  vero  fortuito  In- 
venta et  in  usum  denuo  collecta  (a  Carolo  Mason 
ejus  col.  Socio  et  inter  miscellanea  reposita,  de- 
inceps)  ea  qua  decuit,  Religione  Servari  voluit 
Thomas  Clarke,  nuperrime  hujusce  Collegii  nunc 
vero  Medii  Templi  Londini  Socius,  1736." 


50 


EAMBLINGS    IX    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


these  papers  among  other  old  and  neglected  Manuscripts  belonging  to  Sir  Henry  Newton  Puckering,1 
a  considerable  benefactor  to  the  Library.  Besides  plans  of  PARADISK  LUST,  and  sketches  and  subjects 
for  poetry,  all  in  Milton's  own  hand,  they  contain  entire  copies  of  many  of  our  author's  smaller  poems, 
in  the  same  hand,  except  in  a  few  instances,  exhibiting  his  first  thoughts  and  expressions,  and  most 
commonly  his  own  corrections  of  them  according  to  the  present  text.  All  these  variations,  but 
imperfectly  and  incorrectly  printed  by  Birch,  are  here  given,  with  other  notices,  from  a  more  minute 
and  careful  examination  of  the  manuscript." 

On  the  recto  of  the  first  leaf  of  the  Manuscript,  otherwise  blank,  is  written  in  an  old 
hand,  "  MILTON'S  JUVENILE  POEMS,  &c.,  Liber.  Trin.  Coll.  Cant.,  inter  Miscel.  ^^;" 

"  Except  in  a  few  cases,"  Warton  considered  the  contents  of  the  volume  to  be 
in  the  autograph  of  Milton ;  and  accordingly,  when  referring  to  the  variations  in  the 
text  of  the  several  productions  contained  in  it,  notes  those  portions  that  are  not  in 
the  autograph  of  the  Poet,  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  they  are  by  the  hands  of 
six  different  persons,- one  man  and  Jive  females,- as  stated  by  Warton  in  the 
"Original  Various  Readings,"  pp.  588-590,  a  conclusion  hitherto  uncontradicted. 

The  majority  of  those  who  profess  their  love  for  literature,  care  very  little 
whether  the  original  poems  of  Milton  are  handed  down  in  the  autograph  of  the 
author,  or  in  those  of  his  Amanuenses,  male  or  female.  They  care  little  for  the 
preservation  of  such  a  volume,  and  look  at  it  as  they  would  at  an  ordinary  curiosity. 
Still  there  do  exist  not  a  few  having  the  same  enthusiastic  feelings  as  ourselves,  who 
love  to  see  the  contents  of  such  a  volume  as  that  under  consideration  copiously 
recorded. 

We  have  never  despaired,  nor  do  we  despair,  notwithstanding  the  more  recent 
and  continued  researches  of  Antiquarian  and  Literary  Societies,  of  some  portion  of 
the  AUTOGRAPH  WORKS  OF  SHAKESPEARE  being  discovered.  The  Original  Manuscript 
of  his  Plays  was,  no  doubt,  destroyed  at  the  time  of  their  being  printed.  Not  so,  we 
think,  all  the  Manuscripts  of  his  Poems.  They  may  still  exist,  as  Milton's  did, 
unknown  and  unheeded,  in  the  form  of  a  COMMON-PLACE  BOOK.  May  we  live  to  see 
it  discovered ;  and  may  we  then  be  permitted  to  write  another  work  on  the  "  ELUCI- 
DATION OF  THE  AUTOGRAPH  OF  SHAKESPEARE,"-  and  in  doing  so,  not  to  forget  our 
family  motto,  " Ou  Bien  ou  Rien"  a  motto  we  have  endeavoured,  in  our  present 
researches,  to  keep  in  view ;  and  in  our  next  amusement,  THE  AUTOGRAPH  OF  TASSO  ! 


1  SIR  H.  N.  PUCKERING. — "  He  had  so  great 
an  afiection  for  this  college,  in  which  he  had 
been  educated,  that  in  his  eightieth  year  he 
desired  to  be  readmitted :  and  residing  there  a 
whole  summer,  presented  to  the  new  library, 
just  then  finished,  his  own  collection  of  books, 
amounting  to  nearly  four  thousand  volumes.  He 
was  the  son  of  Sir  Adam  Newton,  tutor  to 
Prince  Henry ;  and  many  papers  written  by 
that  Prince,  or  relating  to  him,  are  involved  in 
the  collection.  Sir  Henry  took  the  name  of 
Puckering  in  remembrance  of  his  uncle  Sir 


Thomas  Puckering  of  Warwickshire,  a  learned 
and  accomplished  man,  brother-in-law  to  Sir 
Adam  Newton,  son  of  Lord  Keeper  Puckering, 
a  companion  of  the  studies  of  Prince  Henry. 
Many  of  the  books  were  presents  to  the  Prince 
from  authors  or  editors.  In  Dr.  Duport's  HORJK 
SUBSECIV.E,  a  poem  is  addressed  to  this  preserver 
of  Milton's  Manuscripts,  'Ad  D.  Henrlcum  Puck- 
eringum,  aliag  Newtonum,  Eq/tit/'m  /K//-.///-7///,,,. 
Cantab.,  1G76,  8vo.,  pp.  222-223."— 7V,,,.<  -/ 
Milton  lij  Warton,  p.  578,  nnt<-. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH  OF  MILTON. 


51 


AUTOGRAPH  POEMS.   PAGES  1,  2,  AND  3. 

PLATE    I.      FAG-SIMILE   OF  PAGE   I. 

JIRCADES.  "  PART  OF  AN  ENTERTAINMENT"-"  presented  to  the  Countess 
Dowager  of  Derby  at  Harefield,  by  some  noble  persons  of  her  family, 
who  appear  on  the  scene  in  pastoral  habit,  moving  towards  the  seat  of 
state  with  this  song."1 

Our  fac-simile,  plate  I.,  No.  1,  forms  the  chief  portion  of  the  first 
page  of  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript.  The  page  is  in  a  sadly  dilapidated  state, 
the  lower  part  being  so  injured  as  to  render  a  fac-simile  of  it  unsatisfactory.  Much 
mutilated  and  repaired  also  is  the  second  leaf,  on  the  upper  part  of  the  recto  of 
Avhich  Arcades  closes,  the  rest  of  the  page  being  blank. 

It  is  there  seen  that  when  Milton  commenced  his  Arcades,  he  had  not  ascer- 
tained where  the  dramatic  entertainment  was  to  be  performed,  the  name  of  the  place 
being  left  blank.  It  is  also  seen  that  Milton  at  first  intitled  his  Arcades  as  "Part 
of  a  Maske;"  but  after  writing  the  first  two  lines,  he  appears  to  have  changed  his 
plan.  The  alteration  in  the  title  was  made  at  a  subsequent  time,  the  ink  in  which 
it  is  written  being  much  darker  than  that  of  the  poem  itself.  This  interesting  circum- 
stance is  not  noticed  by  Warton,  Todd,  or  any  of  the  learned  editors  of  the  Poems. 

It  has  been  generally  asserted  that  Milton  wrote  his  Arcades  in  1632,  after  he 
had  left  Cambridge.  That  this  was  not  the  case,  is  almost  evident  from  the  fact  of 
the  Arcades,  which  commences  on  the  first  page  of  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript, 
being  followed  on  pages  6  and  7  by  the  Letter  and  Sonnet  on  his  attaining  the  age 
of  twenty- three,  written  on  or  before  December  8th,  1631.  Warton  considers  that 
Arcades  was  composed  at  Horton  ;2  but  he  gives  no  date.  So  also  Todd.3  Keightley 
assigns  its  composition  to  1634,  but  without  any  observation  as  to  his  authority. 
Masson  adopts  this  chronology,  grounding  his  opinion  upon  the  order  of  the 
poems  as  they  occur  in  the  editions  of  1645  and  1673.  The  learned  Masson,  how- 
ever, will  find  that  there  is  no  strict  chronological  plan  adopted  in  the  arrange- 


1  The  whole  of  the  page  is,  with  the  exception 
of  the  altered  title,  in  a  brown  ink,  as  in  our 
fac-simile. 

2  Poems  by  Milton.     Ed.  by  Warton,  1791, 
p.  98,  note. 

3  "  Having  taken  the  degree  of  M.A.  in  1632, 
he  left  the  university,  and  retired  to  his  father's 
house  in  the  country ;    who  had   now  quitted 


business,  and  lived  at  an  estate  which  he  had 
purchased  at  Horton  near  Colnebrook,  in  Buck- 
inghamshire. Here  he  resided  five  years  ;  in 
which  time  he  not  only,  as  he  himself  informs 
us,  read  over  the  Greek  and  Latin  authors,  par- 
ticularly the  historians,  but  is  also  believed  to 
have  written  his  Arcades,  Comus,  L'Allegro,  II 
I'eiiseroso,  and  Lijcidas." — Poetical  Works  of  Mil- 
ton, by  Todd,  vol.  i.  p.  18. 


72 


52 


RAMBLIXGS    IX    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


ment  of  the  Poems  in  these  or  any  subsequent  edition :  such  points  having  been 
overlooked. 

We  can  hardly  suppose  that  Milton,  in  a  volume  designed  as  the  first  repository 
of  his  compositions,  should  have  turned  back  and  commenced  his  Arcades  on  p.  1 ; 
and,  adopting  the  design  of  the  Procustian  bed,  should  have  taken  care  to  curtail  or 
enlarge  it,  so  as  with  the  Ode  on  pages  4  and  5  exactly  to  occupy  the  five  pages  left 
blank.  This  is  a  supposition  too  preposterous  to  be  entertained;  and  therefore  we 
think  we  are  justified  in  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Arcades  was  written 
before  the  Letter  and  Sonnet,  and  is  to  be  dated  anterior  to  December  8,  1631. 

There  is  no  authority  as  to  the  precise  date  when  Arcades  was  represented  at 
Harefield.  Keightley,1  following  others,  states  that  Henry  Lawes,  the  friend  of 
Milton,  was  at  the  time  in  the  service  of  the  Countess  of  Derby,  and  that  he  availed 
himself  of  the  assistance  of  his  young  friend  Milton,  then  residing  at  Horton,  a  few 
miles  from  Harefield.  Now  if  Arcades,  as  is  certainly  shewn  upon  very  fair  argu- 
ment, was  written  before  or  in  1631,  it  proves  that  the  father  of  Milton  was  at  that 
time  resident  at  Horton.  Masson2  thinks  that  the  vacation  of  1631  was  the  "Jirst'' 
his  son,  the  young  Poet,  spent  there,  but  is  doubtful  as  to  the  precise  period  when 
the  father  of  Milton  retired  to  the  place. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  notice  that  Milton  dates  the  fifth  of  his  published 
Familiar  Letters  "  From  my  Villa,  Dec.  4, 1634."  This  letter  is  addressed  to  his  old 
Schoolmaster,  ALEXANDER  GILL.  It  is  so  characteristic  that  we  do  not  hesitate  here 
to  insert  it. 

"  If  yon  had  made  me  a  present  of  a  piece  of  plate,  or  any  other  valuable  which  excites  the 
admiration  of  mankind,  I  should  not  be  ashamed  in  my  turn  to  remunerate  you,  as  far  as  my  circum- 
stances would  permit.  But  since  you,  the  day  before  yesterday,  presented  me  with  an  elegant  and 
beautiful  poem  in  Hendecasyllabic  verse,  which  far  exceeds  the  worth  of  gold,  you  have  increased  my 
solicitude  to  discover  in  what  manner  I  may  requite  the  favour  of  so  acceptable  a  gift.  I  had  by  me 
at  the  time  no  compositions  in  a  like  style  which  I  thought  at  all  fit  to  come  in  competition  with  the 
excellence  of  your  performance.  I  send  you  therefore  a  composition  which  is  not  entirely  my  own, 
but  the  production  of  a  truly  inspired  bard ;  from  which  I  last  week  rendered  this  ode  into  Greek 
heroic  verse,  as  I  was  lying  in  bed  before  the  day  dawned,  without  any  previous  deliberation,  but  with 
a  certain  impelling  faculty,  for  which  I  know  not  how  to  account.  By  his  help  who  does  not  less 
surpass  you  in  his  subject  than  you  do  me  in  the  execution,  I  have  sent  something  which  may  serve 
to  restore  the  equilibrium  between  us.  If  you  see  reason  to  find  fault  with  any  particular  passage,  I 
must  inform  you,  that,  from  the  time  I  left  your  school,  this  is  the  first  and  the  last  piece  I  have  ever 
composed  in  Greek,  since,  as  yon  know,  I  have  attended  more  to  Latin  and  to  English  composition. 
He  who  at  this  time  employs  his  labour  and  his  time  in  writing  Greek,  is  in  danger  of  writing  what 
will  never  be  read.  Adieu,  and  expect  to  see  me,  God  willing,  at  London  on  Monday,  among  the 
booksellers.  In  the  meantime,  if  you  have  interest  enough  with  that  Doctor  who  is  the  master  of  the 
college,  to  promote  my  business,  I  beseech  you  to  see  him  as  soon  as  possible,  and  act  as  your  friend- 
ship for  me  may  prompt. 

" From  my  Villa,  Dec.  4,  1634." 


1  Life  of  Milton,  by  Keightley,  1859,  p.  278. 


2  Life  of  Milton  by  Masson.     Vol.  i.,  1859, 
p.  534,  note. 


I. 


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THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  53 


In  a  letter  to  his  friend  Carlo  Deodati,  in  1626,  Milton  writes  of  his  then 
residence  "siiburbani  nobilis  umbra  loci."  In  the  original  of  the  letter  to  Alexander 
Gill,  December  4,  1634,  it  is  written  "J£  nostro  suburbano."  The  learned  Masson1 
does  not  consider  that  the  father  of  Milton  had  retired  to  Horton  so  early  as  1626; 
but  that  the  suburban  villa  mentioned  by  Milton  "  was  some  other  place  which  the  old 
gentleman  may  have  had  nearer  London."  From  using,  in  1634,  the  expression 
"suburban"  as  characteristic  of  the  locality  of  his  then  residence,  without  any 
intimation  of  its  having  recently  become  the  property  of  his  family,  and  from  other 
facts,  we  are  much  inclined  to  think  the  father  of  the  Poet  may  have  resided  at 
Horton  as  early  as  1626. 

PAGES  4  AND  5. 

||N  ODE.  "AT  A  SOLEMN  Music."  This  Ode  appears  to  have  been  very 
carefully  considered  by  the  Poet.  He  has  on  pages  4  and  5  made  no 
less  than  three  copies  of  it,  each  with  important  variations,  which  are 
given  by  Warton,  Todd,  and  Keightley.  The  third  copy,  headed  "At 
a  Solemn  Musick,"  is  written,  though  coarsely,  with  considerable  care 

in  a  smaller  hand. 

If  we  were  to  adopt  the  order  of  the  Poems  as  they  appeared  when  first 

published  in  1645,  as  the  chronological  order  in  which  they  were  written,  this  Ode, 

which  takes  precedence  of  the  Sonnet  on  Shakespeare,  dated  1630,  must  have  been 

written  either  in  that  or  an  anterior  year. 


PAGES  6  AND  7. 

1ETTER  AND  SONNET.     Two  draughts  of  a  letter  written  from  Cam- 
bridge to  an  intimate  friend,  enclosing  the  very  interesting  Sonnet 

"ON   HIS   BEING   ARRIVED   AT   THE   AGE    OF    23." 

Warton  but  slightly  mentions  this  letter  in  a  note  appended  to  the 
Sonnet.     The  letter  is  printed  in  the  Life  of  Milton  by  Masson,  who 
thus  introduces  it  in  chapter  v.,  under  "C/iurch  and  Government :" 

"  When  Milton  went  to  Cambridge,  it  was  with  the  intention  of  entering  the  Church.  Before 
he  had  taken  his  Master's  degree,  however,  this  intention  had  been  entirely,  or  all  but  entirely,  aban- 
doned. There  exists  an  interesting  letter  of  his,  written  about  the  very  time  when  his  determination 
against  the  Church  began  to  be  taken  ;  and  in  this  letter  he  describes  the  reasons  of  his  hesitation  at 
some  length.  The  letter,  of  which  there  are  two  drafts  in  Milton's  handwriting,  in  the  Library  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  must  have  been  written  in  December  1631,  or  in  the  early  part  of  1631-2  ; 

1  Life  of  Milton,  by  Masson,  vol.  i.,  1859,  note,  p.  525. 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


and  it  was  clearly  sent,  or  meant  to  be  sent,  to  some  friend  at  Cambridge,  his  senior  in  years,  who 
had  been  remonstrating  with  him  on  his  aimless  course  of  life  at  the  University."1 

The  Sonnet  written  by  Milton  on  his  twenty-third  birthday,  of  which  an  Electro- 
Block  Fac-simile  is  given  at  p.  14,  and  again,  in  lithography,  plate  I.,  No.  II.,  was 
published  for  the  first  time  in  1645.  It  occurs  in  the  volume  of  his  poems,  of  that 
date,  p.  49,  as  Sonnet  VII.  It  has  there,  however,  no  heading2  or  note  stating  the 
occasion  of  its  composition.  The  letter  wherein  the  Sonnet  appears,  Milton  prefaces : 
"  Yet  that  you  may  see  that  I  am  something  suspicious  of  myself,  and  do  take  notice  of  a  certain 
belatedness  in  me,  I  am  the  bolder  to  send  you  some  of  my  nightward  thoughts  some  while  since, 
because  they  come  in  not  altogether  unfitly,  made  up  in  a  Petrarchian  stanza,  which  I  told  you  of." 


PAGE  8. 
DES.     "  ON  TIME.     To  be  set  on  a  Clock-Case." 


AND 


"UPON  THE  CIRCUMCISION." 


To  the  closing  lines  of  the  Ode  "On  Time:" 

"  When  once  our  heav'nly-guided  soul  shall  clime, 
Then  all  his  earthly  grossness  quit. 
Attir'd  with  stars,  we  shall  for  ever  sit, 

Triumphing  over  Death,  and  chance,  and  thee,  0  Time." 

Warton3  notes  that  "  Milton  could  not  help  applying  the  most  solemn  and  myste- 
rious truths  of  religion  on  all  subjects  and  occasions.  He  has  here  introduced 
the  beatick  vision,  and  the  investiture  of  the  soul  with  a  robe  of  stars,  into  an 
inscription  on  a  clock-case.  Perhaps  something  more  moral,  more  plain  and  intelli- 
gible, would  have  been  more  proper.  John  Bunyan,  if  capable  of  rhyming,  would 
have  written  such  an  inscription  for  a  clock-case.  The  latter  part  of  these  lines  may 
be  thought  wonderfully  sublime ;  but  it  is  in  the  cant  of  the  times.  The  Poet  should 
be  distinguished  from  the  Enthusiast."  Warton  could  have  had  but  little  real  poetry 
in  his  soul,  when  he  would  desire  to  admit  of  no  enthusiasm  in  the  mind  of  a  Poet. 
The  Venerable  Archdeacon  Todd  very  justly  adds  to  this  feeble  criticism,  "  Yet  still 


1  The  Life  of  John  Milton  :  narrated  in  con- 
nexion with  the  Political,  Ecclesiastical,  and 
Literary  History  of  his  Time.  By  David  Mas- 
son,  M.A.,  Professor  of  English  Literature  in 
University  College,  London.  Vol.  i.,  1608-1639. 
Cambridge,  1859,  pp.  289-90. 


1  Masson  states  that  the  heading  to  the  Son- 
net occurs  in  the  edition  of  1645.  Such  is  not 
the  case,  either  in  that  or  the  second  edition 
dated  1673.  "Life  of  Milton,"  by  Massou,  p. 
291,  note.  0 

'  Poems  of  Milton,  by  Warton,  p.  295,  note. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


55 


I  think  Milton  is  here  no  enthusiast :  the  triumph  which  he  mentions  will  certainly 
be  the  triumph  of  every  sincere  Christian." 

As  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  an  annotated  copy  by  Milton,  of  Britcm- 
n  ia's  Pastorals,  by  Browne,  we  here  notice  the  similarity  of  expression  to  the  feelings 
of  Milton  in  the  annexed  two  lines  of  that  Poem,  Book  /.,  S.  4 : 

"  Her  words,  embalmed  in  so  sweet  a  breath, 
That  made  them  triumph  both  on  Time  and  Death." 


PAGE   9. 

lONNET  VIII.  "  ON  HIS  DORE  WHEN  YE  CITTY  EXPECTED  AN  ASSAULT," 
or"AVHEX  THE  ASSAULT  WAS  INTENDED  TO  YE  CITTY,  1642."  Date 
subsequently  erased. 

It  is  evident,  that,  after  the  preceding  Odes,  Milton  purposely  left 
pages  9  to  12  inclusive  blank,  intending  most  probably  to  fill  them  up  with  pieces 
he  had  previously  perhaps  composed,  but  omitted  to  insert,  not  then  having  the 
volume  at  hand. 

The  published  Sonnets  of  Milton  number  twenty-three.  Their  numerical  order 
differs  in  some  of  the  later  editions.  We  note  them  as  numbered  by  Warton  and 
Todd,  those  numbers  being  more  in  accordance  with  their  order  in  the  original  MS., 
and  in  the  two  editions  of  the  Poems1  of  the  Author  published  during  his  life,  1645 


1  "  POEMS  or  ME.  JOHN  MILTON,  both  English 
and  Latin,  compos'd  at  several  times.  Printed 
by  his  true  Copies.  The  Songs  were  set  in 
Musick  by  Mr.  Henry  Lawes,  Gentleman  of  the 
Kings  Chappel,  and  one  of  his  Maiesties  Private 
Musick. 

. Baccare  frontem 

Cingite,  ne  vati  noceat  mala  lingua  futuro. 

Virgil,  Eclog.  7. 

Printed  and  pnblish'd  according  to  Order. 
London,  printed  ly  Ruth  Emvorth  for  Humphrey 
^foseley,  and  are  to  le  sold  at  tlie  gigne  of  the 
Princes  Arms  in  S.  Paul's  Church-yard.  1645. 

pp.  214.     Small  8vo. 

Prefixed  is  an  oval  portrait  of  Milton  by  Mar- 
shall, with  an  inscription  in  Greek,  intended  by 
the  poet  as  a  satire  on  the  engraver.  Following 
the  poems,  which  are  preceded  by  an  epistle 
from  the  publisher,  is  the  Masque  of  Comus, 


with  a  distinct  title,  and  dedicated  by  H.  Lawes 
'To  the  Right  Honourable  Lord  Viscount 
Bracly,  Son  and  Heir  apparent  to  the  Earl  of 
Bridgewater,  &c.'  The  poems  end  on  rev.  of 
H  4,  p.  120.  Then  follows  '  The  copy  of  a  Letter 
written  by  Sir  Henry  Wootton  to  the  Author, 
upon  the  following  Poem.'  The  Latin  poems 
have  a  distinct  title  with  fresh  signatures  and 
repaging,  and  close  the  volume  on  the  recto  of 
F  4,  p.  87. 

"  POEMS,  &c.,  Upon  Several  Occasions.  By 
Mr.  John  Milton  :  Both  English  and  Latin,  &c. 
Composed  at  several  times.  With  a  small  Trac- 
tate of  Education  to  Mr.  Hartlib. 

"  London,  printed  for  Tho.  Bring  at  the  Wliite 
Lion  next  Chancery  Lane  End,  in  Fleet-street,  1673. 
pp.  292.  8vo. 

"  After  the  title  to  this  edition,  the  second  of 
the  author's  smaller  poems,  and  the  last  pub- 


56 


RAMBLIXGS    IN  THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


and  1673.1  With  the  exception  of  the  first  Sonnet,  "To  the  Nightingale,"  those 
preceding  No.  VII.  are  in  the  Italian  language.  The  second  Sonnet  is  that  "On  his 
having  arrived  at  the  Age  of  23."  In  the  first  edition  of  the  Poems  only  ten  Sonnets 
are  printed ;  therefore  this  and  the  two  following  complete  that  number.  The  last 
four  in  that  edition  have  no  headings  or  notes  specifying  the  subjects.  Hitherto 
there  has  not  occurred  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript  any  other  writing  but  the 
Autograph  of  Milton.  On  the  upper  part  of  page  9,  however,  we  find  a  Sonnet  in 
a  totally  different  hand,  as  seen  in  the  subjoined  fac-simile,- another  speci- 


lished  in  his  lifetime,  is,  '  The  Table  of  English 
Poems,'  followed  by  another  of  the  Latin  Poems, 
and  note  of  Errata.  The  English  Poems  then 
begin  on  A,  and  finish  on  L  3,  p.  165.  The 
Latin  ones  next  commence  with  a  separate  title 
on  L  4,  and  re-paging.  The  Tribute  to  Educa- 
tion and  catalogue  of  Books  printed  for  T.  Dring 
closing  the  volume  on  S  8." 

1  The  edition  of  1673,  printed  only  the  year 
before  the  death  of  Milton,  contains  many  pieces 
not  in  the  edition  of  1645.  It  was  published  by 
Thomas  Dring,  and  consequently  the  address 
from  the  previous  publisher  is  omitted,  as  also 
the  name  of  Henry  Lawes  on  the  title.  It,  like 
the  edition  of  1645,  bears  no  indication  of  having 
been  published  under  the  direction  of  the  author. 
It  has  no  dedication,  or  Address  to  the  Reader ; 
and  furthermore,  the  dedication  by  Lawes,  and 
the  letter  of  Sir  Henry  Wootton  preceding  the 
COMUS,  are  omitted. 

We  subjoin  a  note  of  the  omissions  and  addi- 
tions in  the  edition  of  1673. 
Date  to  the  Poem,  p.  1,  "On  the  Morning  of 

'Christ's  Natirity,"  omitted. 
Poem,  "Amw  cetatis  17  on  the  Death  of  a  fair 

Infant  dying  of  a  Cough,"  added. 
Headings   to   Sonnets  TIL,   Tin.,   ix.,  and   x., 
omitted,  as  in  the  first  edition. 
ADDITIONAL  SONNETS. 

xi.  "  On  the  detraction  which  followed  upon  my 
writing  certain  treatises."  Heading  omit- 
ted. 

xn.  On  the  same. 

xin.  "To  Mr.  H.  Lawes,  on  his  Aires." 
xrv.  "  On  the  religious  memory  of  Mrs.  Catherine 
THOMSON,  my  Christian  friend,  deceased 
16  Decemlr.  1646." 


xvn. 
xvin. 


xix. 


xv.   "On  tin'  I'll'    '  in 

xvi.  "On  his  BLINDNJ  ss."       No  heading. 
"To  MB.  LAWRENCE."      No  heading. 
"To  CYRIAC  SKINNER."    No  heading. 
The  second  Sonnet  to  Cyriac  Skinner, 
commencing,  "Cyriack,  this  t/ii-rr  i/.w/-x 
day  these  eys  ;  though  clean,"  is  omitted. 
"On    his    DECEASED    WIFE."      Heading 

omitted. 
Next  follow  "The  Fifth  Ode  of  HORACE"  with  the 

Latin  version. 
Poem,  "Ai/nti  JKtiitix  !!•,  :is  u  \'/irii/!,iu  /-,Vi  /v/V, 

&c.,  in  the  Colledge,"  &c. 
Lines  "  On  the  new  forcers  of  Conscience  under 

the  Long  PARLIAMENT." 
ARCADES.     Nothing  occurs  between   Sonnet   x. 

and  Arcades  in  edition  1645. 
LTCIDAS. 

COMUS.  This,  in  edition  1645,  has  a  distinct 
title,  a  dedication  by  Henry  Lawes  to 
Viscount  Bracly,  and  "The  copy  of  a  />//,/• 
written  ly  Sir  Ilmti-y  Wootton  to  flu'  .\tttlnn; 

UIHIH   till'  fllllotl'illi/    I'nriil." 

PSALMS  i.  to  Tin.  inclusive,  dated  At<:/it,it  1653. 
PSALMS  LXXX.  to  LXXXIX.  inclusive,  headed  "J///V/ 
1648,  /.  M.  Nine  of  the  Psalms  done  in  In 
Metre,  wherein  all  but  what  /.-•  in  n  »////'•/•./// 
Character,  are  the  very  words  of  the  Tt-j:t,froin 
the  Original." 

These  conclude  the  English  Poems  in  the  edi- 
tion of  1673  ;  the  Latin  Poems  being  reprinted 
page  for  page  until  p.  71,  and  the  additional 
Elegy  on  p.  71;  as  also  the  verses  dated  "Jan. 
23,  1646,"  sent  to  JOHN  Rous,  Librarian  of  the 
Bodleian  Library,  accompanied  the  copy  of  llie 
first  edition  of  his  poems  ;  the  "  Tractate  of  Edu- 
cation" closing  the  volume. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  57 


men   executed   by  the  Electro  Printing-Block  Company  without  the   aid  of  an 
engraver. 


4 


Warton,  p.  336,  states  that  the  Sonnet  was  composed  "when  the  King's  army 
was  arrived  at  Brentford,  and  had  thrown  the  whole  city  into  consternation."  The 
writing,  Warton,  p.  588,  considers  to  be  "in  a  female  hand."  It  is,  in  our  humble 
opinion,  very  unlike  the  hand  of  a  lady.  It  is  in  a  round  and  not  the  ordinary 
hand  of  the  writer.  It  does  not  bear  the  character  of  having  been  written  upon  the 
dictation  of  the  author,  but  rather  to  be  a  copy  of  one  dictated  by  Milton,  and 
which,  after  being  read  by  him,  underwent  an  autograph  alteration  in  the  title,  and 
the  addition  of  the  date  1642,  subsequently  erased,  apparently  by  the  author. 
Warton  considers  it  as  one  of  the  best  of  the  Poet's  Sonnets. 

The  date,  1642,  occurring  on  the  ninth  page,  while  the  thirteenth  bears  that  of 
1634,  shews  that  the  intermediate  pages  were  purposely  left  blank  by  Milton;  who, 
though  he  may  have  originally  intended  to  have  filled  those  pages  with  other  of  his 
early  productions,  afterwards  devoted  them  to  his  Sonnets. 

There  is  no  other  writing  in  the  volume,  of  a  character  similar  to  that 
employed  in  Sonnet  VIIL,  nor  have  we  any  idea  by  whom  it  was  executed. 


58  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


SONNET  IX.    To  A  LADY. 

|N  the  original,  as  seen  in  the  subjoined  fac-simile,  executed  by  the 
Electro  Printing-Block  Company,  the  Sonnet  is  without  any  inscrip- 
tion. Such  is  also  the  case  in  the  first  and  second  editions  of  the 
Poems  of  Milton,  1645  and  1673. 


It  is  remarkable  that  Warton,  who  professed  great  accuracy  in  his  "  Original 
Various  Readings,"  when  collating  the  text  in  his  edition  of  the  Poems  with  the 
Trinity  College  Manuscript,  should  have  given  to  this  Sonnet  a  title  that  does  not 
exist  in  the  original.  Warton,  p.  588,  notes  "Sonnet  IX.,  fol.  9,  Tit.-"To  a  Lady;" 
while  in  the  body  of  the  work  he  alters  it,  "To  a  vertuous  young  Lady,"  an  inscription 
generally  adopted  in  subsequent  editions.  The  carelessness  of  learned  men  in  such 
minutioi  is  much  to  be  regretted.  Warton,  well  known  as  a  bibliographer,  ought  to 
have  seen  the  importance  of  correctness  upon  such  points.  Had  the  leviathan 
Johnson  made  such  a  mistake,  we  should  not  have  observed  upon  it,  as  he  did  not 
profess  to  be  a  "  Literary  Antiquary"  or  Bibliographer. 

No  editor  of  the  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  or  any  of  his  numerous  biographers, 
have  assigned  the  Sonnet  to  the  Lady  to  whom  we  venture  to  assert  it  was  addressed. 

EDWARD  PHILLIPS,  the  Nephew  of  Milton,  relates,1  that  after  he  had  been  deserted 
by  his  wife,  and  after  the  publication  of  his  Treatises  on  Divorce,  his  Uncle  was 
persuaded  to  take  more  pupils;  and  that  accordingly  "he  laid  out  for  a  larger  house, 
and  soon  found  it  out;  but  in  the  interim,  before  he  removed,  there  fell  out  a  passage, 
which  though  it  altered  not  the  whole  course  he  was  going  to  steer,  yet  it  put  a  stop, 
or  rather  an  end,  to  a  grand  affair  which  was  more  than  probably  thought  to  be  then 

1  Letters  of  State  written  by  John  Milton.     1694.    Life.     Pp.  xxv-vi. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  59 


in  agitation.  It  was  indeed  a  design  of  marrying  one  of  Mr.  Davis  s  Daughters,  a 
very  Handsome  and  Witty  Gentlewoman,  but  averse,  as  it  is  said,  to  this  motion." 

In  the  preceding  extract  from  the  only  authentic  biography  of  the  Poet,  we 
distinctly  learn  that  the  "grand  affair  in  agitation"  was  the  marriage  of  Milton 
with  a  Miss  Davis,  to  whom,  since  his  wife  had  left  him,  he  had  become  much 
attached.  Such  was  not,  however,  to  be  her  destiny.  She  was  well  aware  that  the 
Poet  was  then  a  married  man.  His  Wife  was  the  young  and  beautiful  daughter  of 
a  Royalist,  who,  under  all  the  political  troubles  that  surrounded  him,  was  true  to  his 
King.  She  had  lived  among  the  Cavaliers,  and  was  ill  suited  to  become  united  to 
one  whose  "love  of  learning"  made  him  a  recluse,  and  whose  political  position  could 
not  have  been  otherwise  than  most  distasteful  to  her.  She  had  not  learnt  that  it  was 
the  sacred  duty  of  a  woman  to  "leave  father  and  mother ;"  and  that,  when  joined  to 
her  husband,  "  they  two  shall  be  one  flesh."1 

The  "passage"  that  "fell  out,"  so  as  to  prevent  the  consummation  of  the  "design" 
of  Milton,  was  the  entire  disapproval,  by  all  parties,  of  the  views  he  then  publicly 
advocated,  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  altering  the  laws  of  the  country  on  Divorce. 
He  had  calculated  on  obtaining  a  legal  separation  from  his  Wife,  without  which  he 
could  not  induce  the  lady  of  his  then  re-impassioned  soul  even  to  listen  to  his  suit. 
Great,  therefore,  was  his  disappointment  on  finding,  that,  not  only  were  his  recently 
promulgated  ideas  on  the  subject  of  Divorce  almost  unanimously  condemned,  but 
that  the  Lady  of  his  Love  was  "averse"  to  the  "design"  contemplated. 

Hence  we  venture  to  suggest  that  the  "very  handsome  and  witty  gentlewoman" 
to  whom  the  Sonnet  is  addressed,  was  the  fair  Miss  Davis.  Our  first  thoughts, 
therefore,  turn  to  the  period  when  the  Sonnet  was  written.  There  is  one  preceding 
it,  on  the  same  page,  bearing  date  1642;  while  to  that  under  consideration,  and  to 
another  following  it,  there  are  no  dates,  though  they  are  generally  considered  to  have 
been  written  in  or  about  1644.  We  may,  therefore,  presume  that  the  Sonnet  "To  a 
Lady"  was  composed  about  that  period.  The  Sonnet  is  full  of  deep  and  personal 
feeling.  The  Lady  in  question  had  rejected  the  proffered  love  of  the  Poet;  and  in 
doing  so,  escaped  the  censure  of  her  friends.  She  avoided  the  "  broad  way  that 
leadeth  to  destruction."  Milton,  most  happily,  had  been  averted  from  the  sin  he  was 
about  to  commit.  His  acknowledgment  of  his  error  is  in  these  lines  apparent ;  and 
his  resignation  of  all  claim  to  a  return  of  affection  from  one  to  whom  he  could  not 
be  legally  united,  was  the  only  honourable  course  he  could  pursue.  Therefore,  while 
yielding  to  the  Law,  the  Poet  blamed  not  the  object  of  his  proffered  affection,  but 
claimed  her  forgiveness,  as  expressed  in  the  following  verse  : 

"No  anger  find  in  thee,  but  pitty  and  ruth:" 

and  exhorted  her,  that,  as  "  Virgin  ivise  and  pure"  she  should  make  " sure"  that  no 
stain  should  deprive  her  of  that  blessed  "  hope  that  reaps  not  shame." 

1  The  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Ephesians,  Ch.  v.,  v.  31. 


60 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


On  referring  to  the  fac-simile  of  the  Sonnet,  it  is  seen  that  in  line  seven, 
wherein  Milton  had  first  written  blooming- said,  as  a  correction  in  the  margin,  the 
word  "prospering,"  which  he  afterwards  erased,  adding  as  an  amendment,  "growing 
vertues,"-\ie  did  not  run  his  pen  through  the  word  blooming.  These  minutice  are 
not  of  any  special  importance ;  but  they  are  very  interesting  as  memorials  of  the 
great  attention  the  Poet  bestowed  on  every  line  he  wrote. 


SONNET  X.     "To  YE  LADY  MARGAKET  LEY." 

ABTON,  p.  537,  considers  that  this  Sonnet  was  "probably  written  about 
1643,  when  Milton  used  generally  to  visit  this  Lady,  the  Daughter  of 
Sir  James  Ley,  the  Earl  of  Maryborough;"  to  whom  it  is  supposed  he 
was  much  attached,  it  having  been  shewn  that  his  affection  was  more 
than  that  of  a  friend. 


PAGES     10,    11,   AND    12,  ARE   BLANK. 

These  were  probably  left  blank  to  enable  Milton  to  insert  other  pieces  which 
he  had  composed. 

PAGES  13  TO  29. 
PLATE    H.      FAC-SIMILE    OF    PAGE   13. 

|OMUS.  "A  MASKE,  1634."  Presented  at  Ludlow  Castle,  before  the 
Earl  of  Bridgwater,  the  President  of  Wales.  It  occupies  nine  leaves, 
pages  13  to  29  inclusive.  Between  pages  22  and  23  is  an  insertion  of 
a  piece  of  paper,  in  which  Milton  has  written  lines  673-705  inclusive, 
noting  on  the  margin  of  page  23  the  place  where  the  addition  is  to 
come  in.  Some  of  the  additional  lines  are  written  like  prose,  without  any  division 
of  the  lines  or  punctuation.  The  later  pages  shew  much  correction ;  and  some  of 
them  are  very  coarsely  written,  particularly  page  27.  The  last  piece,  as  originally 
composed,  on  page  28,  "The  Dcemon  sings  or  says"  consisted  of  thirty -four  lines. 
It  was  afterwards  recomposed,  and  most  carefully  written  on  page  29,  where  it 
extends,  as  in  the  printed  copy,  to  forty-eight  lines.  This  circumstance  is  not  men- 
tioned by  Warton,  and  consequently  is  passed  over  by  all  subsequent  editors  of  Milton. 
Our  fac-simile  gives  the  first  page  of  the  second  and  most  popular  of  the 
Dramatic  Conceits1  of  the  Poet.  It  is  curious  to  notice  that  Milton,  after  the  first 


1  COMUS.  The  first  and  only  early  edition  of 
this  Maske  was  published  in  1637,  under  the 
subjoined  title.  Copies  are  of  great  rarity ;  one, 


a  very  fine  copy,  having  lately  produced  at  a 
sale  £11,  the  largest  price  ever  paid  for  it. 
"  A  Maske  presented  at  Ludlow  Castle,  1034 : 


^7      ^o-Jk- 


- 

-^^ 


4-f«t  k*\  fa 

e*v»\i?j* , 


ffbi^^a^t^mt^-    / 


"a.  **<? 


*0 


u  ,      r  '**?   "  ****    ft>t*T*\\ 

*  ^    &*t**&-+k<iH*"*»H  v*  4Ji*«Jy™ 

*>&&/¥**.  *£  **'tiJcA»£  A  -fa**?      .  I 

f  »>»   Air  t/*r-.pCwM  f-c^/,W,T'«k*>  /T  Jr|*"»l 

.  v*  / , »     .A  . .  Ji    *  ,-  M  ^*  ft  y   ^r    **  .^  ^ .    _/      >%         .\     ...     _..  ~i*_^ .  ^  « 


tit 


I 

« 


#** 


^iW^i««&S?rt 


Tf  1CETCA1TE.UTHH     CAMBBUXiE. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON. 


61 


five  lines,  struck  out  the  next  fourteen,  in  which  he  had  previously  made  many 
alterations.  The  omission  of  almost  all  punctuation  and  the  quaint  orthography  used 
by  the  Poet,  render  the  perusal  of  the  original  interesting,  but  occasionally  difficult. 

We  do  not  attempt  to  follow  the  example  of  many  authors,  whose  notices  of  the 
productions  of  Milton  are  really  nothing  more  than  reviews  of  the  labours  of  their 
predecessors,  varying  only  in  the  adaptation  of  the  words ;  while  in  many  instances 
the  common  honesty  of  acknowledging  the  author  upon  whose  statement  their  views 
are  grounded,  is  disregarded.  We  are  not  aware  of  any  additional  information  having 
been  discovered  in  connexion  with  the  design  of  the  celebrated  Mask,  Comus,  and 
therefore  do  not  hesitate  here  to  make  use  of  what  the  learned  Keightley  has 
composed  on  the  subject:  information  to  be  found  more  or  less  combined  in  the 
editorial  labours  of  Warton,  Symmons,  Todd,  Brydges,  Mitford,  Masson,  and  others. 

"  The  success  of  the  Arcades  probably  inspired  Lawes  and  the  Egerton  family  with  ideas  of  a 
bolder  cast.  The  Earl  of  Bridgewater,  head  of  that  family,  and  son-in-law  of  the  Countess  of  Derby, 
had  been  appointed,  in  1631,  Lord  President  of  Wales  and  the  Marches ;  but,  from  some  cause  or 
other,  he  did  not  take  up  his  official  residence  at  Ludlow  Castle,  in  Salop,  till  the  autumn  of  1634, — 
the  year,  as  we  have  seen,  in  which  the  Arcades  was  presented.  Warton  tells  us,  from  a  MS.,  he 
says,  of  Oldys',  that  '  on  this  occasion  he  was  attended  by  a  large  concourse  of  the  neighbouring 
nobility  and  gentry.  Among  the  rest  came  his  children,  in  particular  Lord  Brackley,  Mr.  Thomas 
Egerton,  and  Lady  Alice.  They  had  been  on  a  visit  at  a  house  of  their  relations,  the  Egerton  family, 
in  Herefordshire  ;  and  in  passing  through  Haywood  forest  were  benighted,  and  the  Lady  Alice  was 
even  lost  for  a  short  time.  This  accident,  which  in  the  end  was  attended  with  no  bad  consequences, 
furnished  the  subject  of  a  Mask  for  a  Michaelmas  festivity,  and  produced  Comus.  Lord  Bridgewater 
was  appointed  Lord  President,  May  12,  1633.  When  the  perilous  adventure  in  Haywood  forest 
happened,  if  true,  cannot  now  be  told  :  it  must  have  been  soon  after.  The  Mask  was  acted  at  Michael- 
mas, 1634.'  We  must  confess  that  we  certainly  feel  inclined  to  regard  this  tale  of  the  Children  in 
the  Wood,  as  somewhat  apocryphal,  and  as  being  founded  on  Comus.  At  all  events,  it  must  have 
occurred,  not  in  1633,  but  a  short  time  before  the  representation  of  the  Mask,  in  the  prologue  to 
which  it  is  said  : 

'  ...His  fair  offspring,  nursed  in  princely  lore, 

Are  coming  to  attend  their  father's  state 

And  new-entrusted  sceptre.' 

This  would  seem  to  prove  that  it  was  their  first  visit  to  Ludlow  ;  and  it  is  most  probable  that  the 
Mask  had  been  prepared  and  learned  by  the  young  actors  at  Harefield,  and  was  presented  by  them 
on  their  arrival  at  Ludlow  Castle. 

"  The  origin  of  Comus  would  appear  to  have  been  as  follows.  There  was  a  '  pleasant  conceited 
comedy,'  by  the  unfortunate  George  Peele,  named  The  Old  Wives  Tale,  which  Lawes  probably  had 
read  ;  and  it  may  have  struck  him  that  some  of  the  incidents  in  it  might  be  employed  in  the  construe- 


On  Michaelmasse  night,  before  the  Right 
Honourable  John  Earle  of  Bridgwater,  Viscount 
Brackly,  Lord  President  of  Wales,  And  one  of 
his  Majesties  most  honorable  Privie  Coun- 
sell. 
"Eheu  quid  volui  misero  mild  !  floribus  austrum 

Perditus" 

"  London,  Printed  for  Humphrey  Robinson,  at 


the   signe   of   the   Three   Pidgeons   in   Paul's 
Church-yard.     1637."     4to. :  pp.  40. 

The  work  is  dedicated  by  H.  Lawes,  the  Musi- 
cian, and  friend  of  Milton,  to  John  Lord  Brackly. 
It  bears  no  indication  of  having  been  published 
under  the  special  superintendence  of  the  author. 
It  was,  no  doubt,  issued  by  and  for  Henry  Lawes, 
who  composed  the  music  for  it. 


62  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


tion  of  the  Mask  to  be  written  by  Milton,  at  his  request,  and  to  be  presented  by  himself  and  his 
young  pupils  at  Ludlow.  All,  perhaps,  that  he  proposed  was,  that,  as  the  lady  and  her  brothers  were 
passing  through  a  wood  on  their  way,  she  should  be  lost,  and  fall  into  the  power  of  an  enchanter, 
from  which  she  should  be  delivered  by  her  brothers,  and  it  may  be  by  himself  in  the  character  of  an 
attendant  spirit.  For  all  the  rest,  he  trusted  to  the  genius  of  his  poetic  friend ;  and  well  he  might 
trust  to  it ;  for  the  noble  poem  that  thence  arose,  must  have  amazed  himself  and  every  one  that  heard 
or  read  it.  As  Hallam  most  justly  observes,  it  '  was  sufficient  to  convince  any  one  of  taste  and 
feeling,  that  a  great  poet  had  arisen  in  England,  and  one  partly  formed  in  a  different  school  from  his 
contemporaries. ' 

"  If  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  guided  by  Warton  and  Todd,  we  shall  detract  considerably  from 
Milton's  powers  of  invention  ;  for  we  shall  find  nearly  all  the  incidents  of  Comw  in  The  Old  Wives 
Tale.  But,  on  reading  the  Play  itself,  we  shall  be  surprised  to  see  how  trifling  and  how  unconnected 
these  incidents  are  which  he  is  accused  of  adopting.  In  fact,  we  almost  doubt  if  Milton  had  read  the 
Play  at  all,  or  knew  any  more  of  its  contents  than  what  Lawes  told  him,  who  may  not  even  have 
mentioned  it."1 

PAGE   30. 

Originally  left  blank.    It  contains,  however,  some  amended  passages  to  Lycidas, 
following  on  the  next  opposite  page. 


PAGES   31  TO  34. 
PLATE    III.      FAC-SIMILE    OF    PAGE    31. 

|  YCIDAS.  "  Novemb.  1 637.  In  this  Monodie  the  author  bewails  a  lerned 
friend  unfortunately  drowned  in  his  passage  from  Chester,  on  the  Irish 
seas,  163  7." 

The  original  occupies  two  leaves,  pp.  31  to  34  inclusive.  The  lower 
part  of  the  second  leaf  is  deficient,  and  would  appear  to  have  been  torn 
away  abruptly  by  the  Poet  immediately  after  that  beautiful  line,  the  165th  of  the 
Poem: 

"  Weep  no  more,  wofull  shepherds,  weep  no  more ; 

For  Lycidas  y 

Milton,  however,  finished  the  poem  on  the  upper  part  of  the  next  page,  recom- 
mencing with  the  line,  "  Weep  no  more"  etc.  It  is  curious  here  to  notice  that  the 
piece  added  to  the  leaf  is  of  the  same  paper,  having  a  paper-mark  of  the  same  kind, 
a  vase  with  the  initial  K.  E.  in  the  centre.  Keightley  thus  records  the  untimely  end 
of  the  subject  of  the  "  Monodie." 

"  One  of  Milton's  most  intimate  friends  at  Cambridge  had  been  Mr.  Edward  King,  son  of  Sir 
John  King,  Secretary  for  Ireland  under  the  reign  of  three  successive  monarchs.  They  belonged  to 
the  same  college,  Christchurch,1  and  appear  to  have  been  engaged  at  the  same  time  in  the  study  of 
divinity.  In  the  beginning  of  August,  1637,  King  embarked  at  Chester,  in  a  very  crazy  vessel,  in 

1  Life  of  Milton, by  Keightley,  1859,  pp.  2 79-81.        *  Christ  College,  not  Christchurch,  as  here  stated. 


111. 


\  I*  V/JM^L. y/ /f^^ 
-)  <Wloir  0t  > 


*  '  *  ^    •*  **  ^       rn  m •  i      M^^  m^rj 

**4+r  #><- */>'•& flfoS.  WfkA 

^«^%^-//;"-9  AM> 


/    *»/    ^  Y^^"  Aym/»X/  w/  f»« 

K&sS&ijlr-  f 

^t^&wK^ 

***- 1 


w 


»,(^- 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


63 


order  to  pass  over  to  Ireland  to  visit  Ms  family  and  friends  ;  but  while  the  ship  was  still  close  to  the 
English  coast,  it  struck  on  a  sunken  rock,  and  all  on  board,  it  is  said,  perished.  The  fate  of  King, 
who  was  only  twenty-five  years  old,  excited  great  grief  among  his  literary  friends,  which  was  exhibited 
in  a  manner  usual  at  the  time,  by  verses  in  his  honour ;  and  in  the  following  year  there  was  published 
at  Cambridge,  a  thin  quarto  volume1  containing  three  Greek,  nineteen  Latin,  and  thirteen  English 
poems,  in  honour  of  the  deceased.  An  account  of  his  life,  etc.,  was  prefixed  ;  probably  from  the  pen 
of  H.  More,  the  Platonist,  who  wrote  one  of  the  Greek  poems.  Among  the  English  poems  is  Milton's 
Jjycidas.  It  stands  last  in  the  volume,  for  which  ingenious  reasons  have  been  assigned ;  while  it  may 
be,  that,  as  it  had  to  be  transmitted  from  Horton,  it  did  not  arrive  till  after  the  other  poems  had  been 
printed.  According  to  the  Trinity  MS.  it  was  written  in  November,  1637." 2 

It  was  the  custom  during  the  seventeenth  century  to  record  any  remarkable 
events  in  the  country  ,-such  as  the  Progresses  of  Royalty,  their  Marriages,  Victories, 
Deaths  of  Distinguished  Men,  and  other  circumstances,-by  the  publication,  at  Oxford 
and  Cambridge,  of  the  poetical  effusions  of  the  most  eminent  persons  of  the  two 
Universities,  and  which  were  printed  at  the  University  Press.  They  were  composed, 
for  the  most  part,  in  Greek,  Latin,  and  English;  each  contribution  generally  of  a 
dozen  or  more  lines.  These  volumes  are  of  very  considerable  interest,  because  they 
frequently  contain  the  earliest  productions  of  the  greater  portion  of  the  most  distin- 
guished Poets,  Historians,  Artists,  and  other  of  the  celebrated  men  in  this  country 
during  that  period.  Accordingly,  we  find  that  Edward  King,  the  college  companion 
of  Milton,  contributed  a  copy  of  Latin  verses  in  the  volume  issued  at  Cambridge, 
1631,  on  the  Birth  of  the  Princess  Mary.  So  likewise  did  he  contribute  Latin  verses 
in  several  other  volumes  of  a  similar  character  issued  in  1631, 1633, 1635,  and  1637.3 

Milton  was  not  the  only  poet  of  the  day  who  contributed  to  the  Elegies  upon 
his  friend  Edward  King.  We  find  the  names  of  Joseph  Beaumont  and  John  Cleve- 
land among  other  eminent  men.  No  heading  but  that  of  "Lycidas"  appeared  to  the 
poem  by  "  J.  M.,"  the  addition  to  the  heading,  as  it  appears  in  the  subsequently 
printed  editions,  "And  by  occasion  foretells  the  ruin  of  our  corrupted  clergy,  then  in 
their  height,"  is  not  in  the  original  manuscript. 

Between  the  composing  of  Comus  and  Lycidas,  was  an  interval  of  nearly  four 
years.  Comus,  in  the  original  manuscript,  ends  on  page  29,  Lycidas  commencing 
on  page  31,  page  30  containing  only  a  few  amended  passages  to  the  opposite 
first  page  of  Lycidas.  Very  little  is  known  of  the  occupation  of  Milton  during 
the  intervening  period.  In  1635  he  had  been  incorporated  as  Master  of  Arts,  at 


1  The  Monody  appeared  as  the  last  of  the 
contributions  in  English :  "  Obsequies  to  the 
memorie  of  Mr.Edward  King,  Anno Dom.  1638:" 
which  are  placed,  with  a  distinct  title  and  new 
pagination,  after  the  Latin  Poems,  of  which  the 
following  is  the  title  : 

"Justa  Edwardo  King  naufrago,  ab  Amicis 
mcerentibus,  amoris  et  fivejav  X"P'V- 

"  Si  recte  calculum  ponas,  ubique  naufragium 
est.  Petr.  Arb. 


"  Cantabrigue :  Apud  ThomamB^lck,8/•Rogel•um 
DanieljCelebemirueAcademice  typographos.  1638." 
4to. ;  pp.  72. 

These  Poems  are  occasionally  found  at  the 
close  of  the  1638  Cambridge  Edition  of  the 
Poems  of  Thomas  Randolph. 

2  Life  of  Milton, by  T.Keightley.  1859.  p.  289. 

3  LifeofMilton,byD.Masson.  1859.  pp.603-4. 


I5AMBLIXGS    IN  THE   ELUCIDATION  OF 


Oxford,  according  to  the  custom  then  prevailing.  That  he  was  at  Horton  in  1634, 
is  evident  from  the  letter,  December  4  of  that  year,  to  his  old  Tutor,  Alexander  Gill. 
That  letter  stands  No.  V.  in  his  published  "  Familiar  Letters."  The  next  letter,  VI. , 
is  to  his  friend  Carlo  Deodati,  dated  from  London,  Sept.  7, 1637.  Here  then,  in  the 
"  Familiar  Letters,"  is  a  period  of  above  three  years,  during  which  time  little  or  no 
information  is  given  by  the  biographers  of  the  Poet  as  to  his  movements.  The 
learned  Masson  informs  us1  that  the  Mother  of  Milton  was  buried  at  Horton,  April  3, 
1637.  At  what  period  the  Father  of  Milton  left  Horton,  is  not  recorded.  In  16432 
he  was  living  with  his  youngest  son,  at  Eeading;  but  went,  in  the  same  year,  to 
reside  with  the  Poet  in  Aldersgate-street,  where  he  died  in  1647. 

It  is  very  clear,  that,  when  at  Cambridge,  Milton  rebelled  against  the  "  Disci- 
pline of  the  Church,"-not  publicly,  but  sufficiently  to  shew  to  his  friends  the  bent  of 
his  inind  at  that  early  period  of  his  life.  His  Muse  was  the  mere  pastime  of  his  more 
serious  studies  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  his  country  and  its  consequences. 

In  addressing  Carlo  Deodati  from  London,  September  7,  1637,  Milton  regrets, 
that,  owing  to  their  mutual  reluctance  of  writing,  they  hear  so  little  from  each  other, 
adding, 

"  It  makes  also  for  my  favour  that  I  know  your  method  of  studying  to  be  so  arranged  that  you 
frequently  take  breath  in  the  middle,  visit  your  friends,  write  much,  sometimes  take  a  journey :  my 
genius,  however,  is  such,  that  no  delay,  no  rest,  no  care  or  thought  almost  of  anything  leads  me  aside 
until  I  reach  the  end  I  am  making  for,  and  round  off,  as  it  were,  some  period  of  my  studies." 

On  the  23rd  of  the  same  month,  Milton  again  addresses  his  friend,  who  had 
evidently  urged  him  to  open  his  mind  as  to  what  course  of  life  he  intended  to  pursue. 
The  desire  of  "  fame"  and  "  glory"  reigned  in  the  youthful  soul  of  Milton ;  but  how 
that  desire  was  to  be  gratified  and  accomplished,  was  as  yet  withheld  from  him  by 
an  overruling  Providence.  The  letter  to  Deodati  is  one  of  pure  affection. 

"  It  is  impossible  for  me,"  writes  Milton,  "  not  to  love  men  like  you.  What  besides  God  lias 
resolved  concerning  me,  I  know  not,  but  this  at  least :  He  has  instilled  into  me,  at  all  events,  a 
vehement  love  of  the  beautiful.  Not  with  so  much  labour,  as  the  fables  have  it,  is  Ceres  said  to  have 
sought  her  daughter  Proserpine,  as  I  am  wont  day  and  night  to  seek  for  this  idea  of  the  beautiful 
(hanc  TOV  KO\OV  ilfav*)  through  all  the  forms  and  faces  of  things  (for  many  are  the  shapes  of  did m- 
things),  and  to  follow  it  leading  me  on  as  with  certain  assured  traces.  Whence  it  happens,  that, 
whoso,  scorning  what  the  vulgar  opine  in  their  depraved  estimation  of  things,  dares  to  feel  and  speak 
and  be  that  which  the  highest  wisdom  through  every  age  has  taught  to  be  best,  to  that  man  I  attach 
myself  forthwith  by  a  real  necessity,  wherever  I  find  him.  And  if,  either  by  nature  or  by  my  fate, 
I  am  so  circumstanced  that,  by  no  effort  and  labour  of  mine,  I  can  rise  to  such  an  honour  and 
elevation,  yet  that  I  should  always  worship  and  look  up  to  those  who  have  attained  that  glory,  or 
happily  aspire  to  it,  neither  gods  nor  men,  I  think,  have  bidden  nay." 

"  But  now  I  know  you  wish  to  have  your  curiosity  satisfied.  You  make  many  anxious  inquiries — 
even  as  to  what  I  am  thinking  of.  Hearken,  Theodotus,  but  let  it  be  in  your  private  ear,  lest  I  blush  : 
and  allow  me  for  a  little  to  speak  big  words  to  you  !  You  ask  what  I  am  thinking  of  ?  So  may  the 
good  Deity  help  me,  of  Immortality  !  But  what  am  I  doing  ?  I  am  plumimj  mij  ('•/»//.-•  and  meditating 
flight ;  but  as  yet  our  Pegasus  raises  himself  on  very  tender  pinions.  Let  us  be  lowly  wise. 

1  Life  of  Milton,  by  D.  Masson.  1859.  p.  595.        *  Life  of  Milton,  by  C.Symmons.  1810.  pp.  244-5. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


65 


"  I  will  now  tell  you  seriously  what  I  am  thinking  of : — of  migrating  into  some  Inn  of  the 
Lawyers,  wherever  there  is  a  pleasant  and  shady  walk ;  because  there  I  shall  have  both  a  more 
convenient  habitation  among  some  companions,  if  I  wish  to  remain  at  home,  and  more  suitable  Itcml- 
quartcrs  if  I  choose  to  make  excursions  anywhere.  Where  I  am  now,  as  you  know,  I  live  obscurely, 
and  in  a  cramped  manner."1 

Within  two  months  after  Milton  had  thus  addressed  his  confidential  friend,  his 
restless  and  aspiring  spirit  was  called  into  action.  He  most  probably  then  gave  up  the 
idea  of  taking  rooms  in  one  of  the  Inns  of  Court.  Had  he  ever  lived  there,  that  fact 
would  have  been  recorded  by  his  Nephew;  and  the  place  itself  would,  in  after  times, 
have  become  notorious  as  having  been  the  residence  of  Milton;  just  as  the  staircase 
in  No.  1,  Inner  Temple  Lane,  leading  to  the  chambers  of  Dr.  Johnson  on  the  first  floor, 
was  inscribed  with  Johnson's  name.  This  staircase,  and  the  panelling  of  his  room,  were 
preserved  by  the  Benchers  when  the  building  was  lately  pulled  down,  and  presented 
by  them  to  The  Crystal  Palace  Company,-the  site  being  now  distinguished  as 
"Dr.  Johnson's  Buildings." 

The  sudden  and  melancholy  death  of  his  dear  college  companion,  EDWARD  KING, 
awakened  the  polemical  feelings  the  Poet  had  displayed,  when  at  Cambridge,  against 
the  regulations  of  the  Church,  into  which  his  deceased  friend  had  intended  to  enter. 
In  general,  the  Contributions  to  the  Collections  of  University  Poems  were  confined 
to  contemporaries  at  College.  The  Monody  sent  by  Milton  is  the  last  of  those  in 
English,  it  having  been  probably  contributed  by  the  Poet  at  the  special  request  of 
his  friends  at  Cambridge,  after  the  other  portion  of  the  volume  was  in  type. 

Up  to  this  period,  Milton  had  published  nothing  indicative  of  the  position  he 
was  about  to  take  in  the  religious  controversies  of  his  country ;  but  in  the  Elegy  to 
the  memory  of  his  departed  friend,  Milton  breaks  forth  in  a  strain  of  the  severest 
satire  against  the  Clergy.  What  language  can  be  more  piquant  than  the  subjoined 
lines,  103  to  131  of  the  poem  ? 

"  Next  Camus,  reverend  sire,  went  footing  slow, 
His  mantle  hairy,  and  his  bonnet  sedge, 
Inwrought  with  figures  dim,  and  on  the  edge 
Like  to  that  sanguin  flow'r  inscrib'd  with  woe. 
'  Ah  !  Who  hath  reft  (quoth  he)  my  dearest  pledge  ?' 
Last  came,  and  last  did  go, 
The  pilot  of  the  Galilean  lake  ; 
Two  massy  keys  he  bore  of  metals  twain, 
(The  golden  opes,  the  iron  shuts  amain) 
He  shook  his  miter'd  locks,  and  stern  bespake  : 
'  How  well  could  I  have  spar'd  for  thee,  young  swain, 
Enow  of  such,  as  for  their  bellies  sake, 


1  This  and  the  preceding  extract  from  the 
Letters  of  the  Poet,  are  taken  from  the  transla- 


tion of  Masson,  vol.  i.  pp.  597-9.     Masson  dates 
the  first  letter,  Sept.  2,  in  lieu  of  Sept.  7. 


9 


66  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


Creep,  and  intrude,  and  climb  into  the  fold  ? 

Of  other  care  they  little  reckoning  make, 

Than  how  to  scramble  at  the  shearers  feast, 

And  shove  away  the  worthy  bidden  guest ; 

Blind  mouths !  that  scarce  themselves  know  how  to  hold 

A  sheep-hook,  or  have  learn'd  aught  else  the  least 

That  to  the  faithful  herdsman's  art  belongs  ! 

What  recks  it  them  \     What  need  they  ?     They  are  sped ; 

And  when  they  list,  their  lean  and  flashy  songs 

Grate  on  their  scrannel  pipes  of  wretched  straw ; 

The  hungry  sheep  look  up,  and  are  not  fed, 

But  swoln  with  wind,  and  the  rank  mist  they  draw, 

Rot  inwardly,  and  foul  contagion  spread : 

Besides  what  the  grim  wolf  with  privy  paw 

Daily  devours  apace,  and  nothing  sed  : 

But  that  two-handed  engin  at  the  door 

Stands  ready  to  smite  once,  and  smite  no  more.'" 

The  last  two  lines  here  given  have  been  considered  by  some  as  prophetical  of  the 
downfal  of  Archbishop  Laud,  who  was  then  in  the  zenith  of  his  power.  It  is  more 
than  probable  that  the  contributions  on  these  occasions  were  not  published  under  the 
supervision  of  the  authorities  of  the  University.  Had  they  been  so,  one  can  hardly 
suppose  the  Syndics  could  have  been  so  dull  as  not  to  see  that  the  10.9th  line,  "  The 
Pilot  of  the  Galilean  Lake"  was  intended  for  St.  Peter,- an  expression  which,  as 
Dr.  Symmons1  observes,  is  "the  most  objectionable  part  of  the  composition." 

Warton  has  always  been  esteemed  a  most  careful  editor.  The  few  lines  above 
given  from  the  text  of  the  Poet,  are  taken  from  that  in  his  edition.  On  comparing 
the  orthography  and  punctuation  with  that  in  the  last,  Mr.  Keightley's  edition,  we 
find  no  less  than  thirteen  variations.  The  fact  that  in  the  space  of  a  few  lines  there 
are  so  many  variations,  seems  to  suggest  the  propriety  of  the  hitherto  published  Text 
of  the  Poet  undergoing  revision.  Far  better  would  it  be  to  give,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  text  with  all  its  quaintness  in  orthography  and  frequent  absence  of  all  punctua- 
tion, from  the  existing  original  Manuscript  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  from 
the  first  editions  of  his  poetical  productions,  than  a  text  which  has  been  altered  at 
the  caprice  of  every  New  Editor. 

1  Life  of  Milton,  by  Charles  Symmons.     1810.     p.  109. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTOX. 


67 


PAGE   35. 

PLATE    IV.     FAC-SIMILE    OF    PAGE    35. 

VKADISE  LOST.  Here  we  have  the  Original  Design  of  a  Sacred 
Drama,  afterwards  destined  to  become  the  sublime  occupation 
of  the  mind  of  Milton,  when,  bereft  of  sight,  he  had  bid  adieu  to 
the  cares  of  public  life,  calmly  awaiting  the  will  of  the  Almighty 
to  relieve  him  from  the  forlorn  position  to  which  the  loss  of 
Nature's  most  heavenly  gift  had  reduced  him.  There  is  nothing 
to  shew,  beyond  the  three  varying  outlines  of  the  Drama,  here 
given  in  fac-simile,  plate  IV.,  from  page  35,  and  the  extended  design  on  page  40,  that 
Milton  proceeded  further  with  his  intended  labours  before  1660;  when,  soon  after  that 
period,  he  may  be  supposed  to  have  turned  his  thoughts  to  his  long  before  cherished 
scheme,  converting  the  plan  previously  laid  down  for  representation  in  the  form  of  a 
Drama,  to  that  of  an  Epic  Poem  which,  as  a  whole,  is  unsurpassed  by  the  most 
sublime  of  ancient  or  modern  times. 

In  making  the  preceding  observation  touching  the  period  when  Milton  actually 
commenced  the  Poem  with  a  view  to  its  publication,  we  must  not  pass  over  the 
information  conveyed  by  E.  Phillips,  who  states  in  the  Memoir  of  his  Uncle,  that, 
"  in  the  fourth  Book  of  the  Poem  there  are  ten  verses,  which,  several  years  before 
the  Poem  was  begun,  were  shewn  to  me,  and  some  others,  as  design'd  for  the  very 
beginning  of  the  said  Tragedy." 

Subjoined  are  the  lines.  They  occur  in  the  opening  of  the  fourth  Book,  lines 
32  to  41,  where  Satan  represents  his  own  fallen  state  : 

"  0  thou  !  that,  with  surpassing  glory  crown'd, 
Look'st  from  thy  sole  dominion  like  the  God 
Of  this  new  World ;  at  whose  sight  all  the  Stars 
Hide  their  diminish'd  heads ;  to  thee  I  call, 
But  with  no  friendly  Voice,  and  add  thy  name, 

0  Sun !  to  tell  thee  how  I  hate  thy  Beams, 
That  bring  to  my  Remembrance  from  what  State 

1  fell ;  how  glorious  once  above  thy  Sphere ; 
'Till  Pride,  and  worse  Ambition,  threw  me  down, 
AVarring  in  Heav'n  against  Heav'n's  matchless  King." 

Many  of  the  greatest  and  most  admired  productions  of  Man  are  the  successful 
result  of  a  passing  thought  committed  at  the  moment  to  paper,  in  its  crude  state,  for 


92 


68  RAMBLING  S    IX    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


future  working  out;  and  however  much  the  original  plan  may,  when  reconsidered, 
undergo  alteration,  the  first  idea  is  most  frequently  adopted,  and  found  to  be  the 
best. 

The  three  outlines  of  the  Drama,  as  originally  designed  on  page  35  in  the 
Trinity  College  Manuscript,  appear  to  have  been  written  by  Milton  on  the  spur  of 
the  moment;  and  though  ihejirst  sketch  received  additions  in  the  second  and  third, 
as  also  afterwards  on  page  40  in  the  recapitulation  of  the  design;  it  is  remarkable 
that  in  the  Poem,  when  composed  many  years  after,  Milton  fell  back  on  his  original 
plan,  then  altering  it  from  a  five  act  Drama,  or  Tragedy,  into  an  Epic  Poem  in  Ten 
Books,  extending  it  to  Twelve  Books  in  the  second  edition  issued  in  1674;  the 
seventh  book  of  the  first  edition  there  forming  books  seven  and  eight,  and  the  tenth 
book  the  eleventh  and  twelfth. 

In  the  second  outline,  Moses  is  substituted  for  Michael;  Moses  in  the  third 
taking  a  prominent  part  in  the  opening;  while  in  the  fourth,  the  subsequently  recon- 
sidered plan,  at  page  46,  Gabriel  is  introduced  in  lieu  of  either.  "The  Persons,"  as 
originally  designed  in  the  third  sketch  for  Act  1,  are  not  introduced  in  the  first 
three  Books  of  the  published  Poem,  other  matter  having  been  brought  in  as  intro- 
ductory to  the  chief  subject  of  the  Poem.  Book  IV.  commences  with  Lucifer's 
description  of  his  own  state  previous  to  his  fall,  of  which  the  ten  lines  referred  to  by 
Phillips,  form  the  twenty-second  to  the  forty-first  lines;  the  remaining  portion  of 
that  Book,  as  also  Books  V.,  VI.,  VII.,  and  VIII.,  embrace  the  contents  of  Act  3. 
At  the  close  of  the  seventh  Book,  the  "  Chorus  of  Angels  sing  a  hymne  of  the 
creation,"  as  designed  to  close  the  end  of  Act  1.  "Adam  and  Eve  fallen,"  as 
intended  to  commence  Act  4,  is  depicted  in  Book  IX.;  the  remainder  of  the 
design  for  Act  4,  and  the  contents  of  Act  5,  are  embodied  in  Books  X.,  XL, 
and  XII. 

Though  the  learned  DR.  JOHNSON  has  not  been  over-abundant  in  his  laudatory 
feelings  towards  Milton,  in  reference  to  the  general  productions  of  his  pen  and  the 
moral  conduct  of  his  life,  yet  he  does  not  in  any  way  detract  from  the  universal 
praise  awarded  to  Milton  as  a  Poet.  In  his  Memoir,  after  introducing  the  sketches 
of  the  Poem  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  Johnson  very  justly  observes  : 

"  These  are  very  imperfect  rudiments  of  Paradise  Lost ;  but  it  is  pleasant  to  see  great  works  in 
their  seminal  state,  pregnant  with  latent  possibilities  of  excellence ;  nor  could  there  be  any  more 
delightful  entertainment  than  to  trace  their  gradual  growth  and  expansion,  and  to  observe  how  they 
are  sometimes  suddenly  advanced  by  accidental  hints,  and  sometimes  slowly  improved  by  steady 
meditation. 

"  Invention  is  almost  the  only  literary  labour  which  blindness  cannot  obstruct ;  and  therefore  he 
naturally  solaced  his  solitude  by  the  indulgence  of  his  fancy,  and  the  melody  of  his  numbers.  He 
had  done  what  he  knew  to  be  necessarily  previous  to  poetical  excellence;  he  had  made  himself 
acquainted  with  seemly  arts  and  affairs  ;  his  comprehension  was  extended  by  various  knowledge,  and 
his  memory  stored  with  intellectual  treasures.  He  was  skilful  in  many  languages,  and  h;:d  1>\  reading 
and  composition  attained  the  full  mastery  of  his  own.  He  would  have  wanted  little  help  from  books 
had  he  retained  the  power  of  perusing  them." 


IV. 


/4.      3-  {(+t<mj  L.  .... 

n  -*!m^5*««  °     '1        *  ^"r* A 


W  JTETCAiFE.lITHO 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  69 


"  I  am  now,"  writes  Johnson,  "  to  examine  Paradise  Lost :  a  Poem  which,  considered  with  respect 
to  design,  may  claim  the  first  place — and  with  respect  to  performance,  the  second — among  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  human  mind." 

The  learned  Critic  then  devotes  many  pages  to  the  consideration  of  the  Poem. 
The  subjoined  passages  from  such  a  pen  cannot  fail  to  interest  all  who  desire  to 
know  the  opinion  of  so  great  a  man  as  Johnson  upon  the  poetical  merits  of  Milton. 

"  After  the  scheme  and  fabrick  of  the  poem,  must  be  considered  its  component  parts :  the  senti- 
ments, and  the  diction. 

"  The  sentiments,  as  expressive  of  manners,  or  appropriated  to  characters,  are,  for  the  greater 
part,  unexceptionably  just. 

"  Splendid  passages  containing  lessons  of  morality,  or  precepts  of  prudence,  occur  seldom.  Such 
is  the  original  formation  of  this  poem,  that  as  it  admits  no  human  manners  till  the  Fall,  it  can  give 
little  assistance  to  human  conduct.  Its  end  is  to  raise  the  thoughts  above  sublunary  cares  or 
pleasures.  Yet  the  praise  of  that  fortitude  with  which  Abdiel  maintained  his  singularity  of  virtue 
against  the  scorn  of  multitudes,  maybe  accommodated  to  all  times  ;  and  Raphael's  reproof  of  Adam's 
curiosity  after  the  planetary  motions,  with  the  answer  returned  by  Adam,  may  be  confidently  opposed 
to  any  rule  of  life  which  any  poet  has  delivered. 

"  The  thoughts  which  are  occasionally  called  forth  in  the  progress,  are  such  as  could  only  be 
produced  by  an  imagination  in  the  highest  degree  fervid  and  active,  to  which  materials  were  supplied 
by  incessant  study  and  unlimited  curiosity.  The  heat  of  Milton's  mind  might  be  said  to  sublimate 
his  learning,  to  throw  off  into  his  work  the  spirit  of  science  unmingled  with  its  grosser  parts. 

"  He  had  considered  creation  in  its  whole  extent,  and  his  descriptions  are  therefore  learned.  He 
had  accustomed  his  imagination  to  unrestrained  indulgence  ;  and  his  conceptions,  therefore,  were 
extensive.  The  characteristick  quality  of  his  poem  is  sublimity.  He  sometimes  descends  to  the 
elegant ;  but  his  element  is  the  great.  He  can  occasionally  invest  himself  with  grace  ;  but  his  natural 
port  is  gigantick  loftiness.  He  can  please  when  pleasure  is  required  ;  but  it  is  his  peculiar  power  to 
astonish. 

"  He  seems  to  have  been  well  acquainted  with  his  own  genius,  and  to  know  what  it  was  that 
Nature  had  bestowed  upon  him  more  bountifully  than  upon  others, — the  power  of  displaying  the  vast, 
illuminating  the  splendid,  enforcing  the  awful,  darkening  the  gloomy,  and  aggravating  the  dreadful : 
he  therefore  chose  a  subject  on  which  too  much  could  not  be  said  ;  on  which  he  might  tire  his  fancy 
without  the  censure  of  extravagance. 

"  The  appearances  of  Nature,  and  the  occurrences  of  life,  did  not  satiate  his  appetite  of  greatness. 
To  paint  things  as  they  are,  requires  a  minute  attention,  and  employs  the  memory  rather  than  the 
fancy.  Milton's  delight  was  to  sport  in  the  wide  regions  of  possibility ;  reality  was  a  scene  too  narrow 
for  his  mind.  He  sent  his  faculties  out  upon  discovery,  into  worlds  where  only  imagination  can 
travel ;  and  delighted  to  form  new  modes  of  existence,  and  furnish  sentiment  and  action  to  superior 
beings  ;  to  trace  the  counsels  of  hell,  or  accompany  the  choirs  of  heaven. 

"  But  he  could  not  be  always  in  other  worlds ;  he  must  sometimes  revisit  earth,  and  tell  of  things 
visible  and  known.  When  he  cannot  raise  wonder  by  the  sublimity  of  his  mind,  he  gives  delight  by 
its  fertility. 

"  Whatever  be  his  subject,  he  never  fails  to  fill  the  imagination.  But  his  images  and  descriptions 
of  the  scenes  or  operations  of  Nature  do  not  seem  to  be  always  copied  from  original  form,  nor  to 
have  the  freshness,  raciness,  and  energy  of  immediate  observation.  He  saw  Nature,  as  Dryden 
expresses  it,  through  the  spectacles  of  books;  and  on  most  occasions  calls  learning  to  his  assistance." 

"  The  defects  and  faults  of  Paradise  Lost — for  faults  and  defects  every  work  of  man  must  have — 
it  is  the  business  of  impartial  criticism  to  discover.  As,  in  displaying  the  excellence  of  Milton,  I  have 
not  made  long  quotations,  because  of  selecting  beauties  there  had  been  no  end,  I  shall  in  the  same 
general  manner  mention  that  which  seems  to  deserve  censure  ;  for  what  Englishman  can  take  delight 


70  RAMBLING  S    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


in  transcribing  passages,  which,  if  they  lessen  the  reputation  of  Milton,  diminish  in  some  degree  the 
honour  of  our  country  ':" 

"  But,  whatever  be  the  advantage  of  rhyme,  I  cannot  prevail  on  myself  to  wish  that  Milton  had 
been  a  rhymer  ;  for  I  cannot  wish  his  work  to  be  other  than  it  is  ;  yet,  like  other  heroes,  he  is  to  be 
admired  rather  than  imitated.  He  that  thinks  himself  capable  of  astonishing,  may  write  blank  verse  ; 
but  those  who  hope  only  to  please,  must  condescend  to  rhyme. 

"  The  highest  praise  of  genius  is  original  invention.  Milton  cannot  be  said  to  have  contrived  the 
structure  of  an  epick  poem  ;  and  therefore  owes  reverence  to  that  vigour  and  amplitude  of  mind  to 
which  all  generations  must  be  indebted  for  the  art  of  poetical  narration,  for  the  texture  of  the  fable, 
the  variation  of  incidents,  the  interposition  of  dialogue,  and  all  the  stratagems  that  surprise  ami 
enchain  attention.  But,  of  all  the  borrowers  from  Homer,  Milton  is  perhaps  the  least  indebted.  He 
was  naturally  a  thinker  for  himself,  confident  of  his  own  abilities,  and  disdainful  of  help  or  hindrance. 
He  did  not  refuse  admission  to  the  thoughts  or  images  of  his  predecessors  :  but  he  did  not  seek  them. 
From  his  contemporaries  he  neither  courted  nor  received  support:  there  is  in  his  writings  nothing 
by  which  the  pride  of  other  authors  might  be  gratified,  or  favour  gained  ;  no  exchange  of  praise,  nor 
solicitation  of  support.  His  great  works  were  performed  under  discountenance,  and  in  blindness  ; 
but  difficulties  vanished  at  his  touch.  He  was  born  for  whatever  is  arduous  ;  and  his  work  is  not  the 
greatest  of  heroick  poems,  only  because  it  is  not  the  first." 


10  cast  the  slightest  doubt  upon  the  statements  of  so  learned  a  Historian 
as  MACAULAY,  who  has  deservedly  received  the  homage  of  all  classes 
of  readers  for  his  deep  research,  general  accuracy,  and  eloquent  lan- 
guage, would  be  thought  an  act  of  such  gross  ignorance  or  impudence 
in  any  humble  author  who  so  presumed,  as  would  place  him  beyond  the 
pale  of  intellectual  society.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  frequently  happens  that 
men  so  highly  gifted  as  Macaulay  are  occasionally  led  away  by  their  oratorical 
powers  to  express  themselves  in  language  not  quite  in  accordance  with  the  truth 
of  the  circumstances  they  desire  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  their  readers.  The 
great  Macaulay  affords  an  instance  of  this  in  the  third  chapter1  of  his  "History  of 
England"  in  writing  upon  the  " Immorality  of  the  Polite  Literature  of  England," 
while  alluding  to  the  verse  of  Waller,  and  also  to  that  of  "  Cowley,  distinguished  as  a 
loyalist  and  as  a  man  of  letters,  [who]  raised  his  voice  courageously  against  the 
immorality  which  disgraced  both  letters  and  loyalty,"  where  he  observes  : 

"A  mightier  poet,  tried  at  once  by  pain,  danger,  poverty,  obloquy,  and  blind- 
ness, meditated,  undisturbed  by  the  obscene  tumult  which  raged  att  around  him,  a 
song  so  sublime  and  so  holy  that  it  would  not  have  misbecome  the  lifts  of  those 
ethereal  Virtues  whom  he  saw,  with  that  inner  eye  which  no  calamity  could  darken, 
flinging  down  on  the  jasper  pavement  their  croums  of  amaranth  and  gold." 

The  Noble, Historian,  when  he  penned  this  exquisitely  beautiful  piece  of  eulogy, 
must  have  forgotten  that  it  was  not  until  after  the  Kestoration,-and  then  only 

1  The  History  of  England,  by  Thomas  Babington  Macaulay.     Vol.  i.,  1849,  p.  399. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON.  71 


for  a  short  time  was  the  Poet  in  actual  danger,- that  Milton  commenced  his  poem, 
Paradise  Lost.  Though  reduced  in  circumstances,  there  is  nothing  to  prove,  that, 
after  the  Eestoration  was  settled,  Milton  was  in  actual  poverty,  or  that  he  suffered 
from  any  other  very  severe  bodily  calamity  than  his  blindness.  It  was  at  that  period, 
as  the  learned  HALLAM  so  touchingly  records,  that 

"  The  remembrance  of  early  reading  came  over  his  dark  and  lonely  path  like  the 
moon  emerging  from  the  clouds.  Then  it  was  that  the  Muse  was  truly  his ;  not  only 
as  she  poured  her  creative  inspiration  into  his  mind,  but  as  the  Daughter  of  Memory, 
coming  with  fragments  of  ancient  melodies ;  the  voice  of  Euripides,  and  Homer,  and 
Tasso;  sounds  that  he  had  loved  in  youth,  and  treasured  up  for  the  solace  of  his  age" 


10WEVER  much  we  may  admire  the  typographical  execution  of  modern 
editions  of  the  standard  works  of  this  country,  and  take  advantage  of 
any  additional  information  obtained  by  the  researches  of  the  later 
editors  of  the  works  of  distinguished  men;  yet,  as  valuable  records,  few 
of  the  modern  editions  can  equal  those  which  have  been  edited  by 
Authors  selected  by  the  Booksellers  of  the  past  and  early  part  of  the  present  century. 
In  those  days,  as  no  doubt  with  regard  to  some  particular  works  at  the  present  time, 
the  associated  Booksellers,  having  a  mutual  interest  in  the  success  of  a  book,  employed, 
and  paid  most  liberally,  those  whose  abilities  entitled  them  to  have  such  editorial 
labours  entrusted  to  their  care;  but  in  these  days,  persons  with  high-sounding 
titles  often  edit  works,  and  write  prefaces  upon  subjects  of  which  they  absolutely 
know  nothing,  beyond  what  may  be  easily  acquired  by  a  few  hours  study  of  an 
Encyclopaedia. 

Consequently,  in  our  present  researches  touching  the  particular  period  when 
Milton  is  supposed  to  have  conceived  the  idea  of  his  Paradise  Lost,  we  fall  back  to 
the  standard  edition  of  the  works  of  that  Author,  as  edited  by  the  late  Venerable 
Archdeacon  Todd,  combining  the  biographical  and  editorial  labours  of  Toland,  Birch, 
and  others.  We  are  quite  aware  that  the  more  dashing  and  faster  Scholars  of  the 
present  period  consider  the  Biography  of  Milton  from  the  pen  of  Todd  as  "  dull"  and 
"  prosy ;"  and  that  the  text  of  Paradise  Lost,  in  his  edition,  is  too  much  "  overladen" 
with  notes  and  parallel  passages  from  other  Poets.  With  regard  to  the  former,  it 
will  be  found  by  those  who  desire  to  study  the  life  of  Milton,  that  Todd  is  an 
authority  that  will  seldom  lead  them  into  error;  and  as  to  the  latter,  that  subsequent 
editors  have  availed  themselves  of  the  choicest  of  his  illustrations.  In  making  these 
observations  we  do  not  mean  to  cast  any  slight  upon  the  editorial  merits  of  the 
later  issues  of  the  works  of  Milton.  On  the  contrary,  we  have  had  occasion  to 
acknowledge  how  much  the  inquirer  is  indebted  to  the  labours  of  Hawkins, 


RAMBLINGS    IN  THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


Mitford,1  Masson,  and  Keightley;  as  also  to  the  Miltonian  researches  of  Hunter,2 
Marsh,3  and  Hamilton.4 

On  referring  to  Todd,  we  find  that  the  Venerable  Archdeacon  commences  his 
"Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  Paradise  Lost"  by  stating5  that 

"  The  earliest  observation  respecting  the  origin  of  Paradise  Lost  appears  to  have  been  made  by 
VOLTAIRE,  in  the  year  1727.  He  was  then  studying  in  England,  and  had  become  so  well  acquainted 
with  our  language  as  to  publish  an  English  Essay  on  epick  poetry,  in  which  are  the  following  words  : 
'Milton,  as  he  was  travelling  through  Italy  in  his  youth,  saw  at  Florence  a  comedy  called  ADA  MO, 
written  by  one  Andreini,6  a  player,  and  dedicated  to  Mary  de  Medicis,  Queen  of  France.  The  subject 
of  the  play  was  the  Fall  of  Man :  the  actors,  God,  the  Devils,  the  Angels,  Adam,  Eve,  the  Serpent, 
Death,  and  the  Seven  Mortal  Sins.  That  topick,  so  improper  for  a  drama,  but  so  suitable  to  the 
absurd  genius  of  the  Italian  stage,  as  it  was  at  that  time,  was  handled  in  a  manner  entirely  conform- 
able to  the  extravagance  of  the  design.  The  scene  opens  with  a  Chorus  of  Angels  ;  and  a  Cherubim 
thus  speaks  for  the  rest : 

"  '  A  la  lira  del  Ciel  Iri  sia  1'  arco, 

Corde  le  sfere  sien,  note  le  stelle, 

Sien  le  pause  e  i  sospir  1'  aure  novelle, 

E  '1  tempo  i  tempi  a  misurar  non  parco  !' 

Let  the  rainbow  be  the  fiddlestick  of  the  heavens  !  Let  the  planets  le  the  notes  of  our  musick  !  Let  time 
leat  carefully  the  measure,  and  the  winds  make  the  sharps,  etc.  Thus  the  play  begins,  and  every  scene 
rises  above  the  last  in  profusion  of  impertinence  ! 

'"  Milton  pierced  through  the  absurdity  of  that  performance  to  the  hidden  majesty  of  the  subject ; 
which,  being  altogether  unfit  for  the  stage,  yet  might  be,  for  the  genius  of  Milton,  and  his  only,  the 
foundation  of  an  epick  poem. 

" '  He  took  from  that  ridiculous  trifle  the  first  hint  of  the  noblest  work  which  human  imagination 
has  ever  attempted  ;  and  which  he  executed  more  than  twenty  years  after.'  " 


1  MITFORD.     We  beh'eve  that  the  learned  and 
lamented   Rev.   John   Mitford  never  saw   the 
Trinity  College  Manuscript.     Consequently,  he 
derived  all  his  information  respecting  it  from 
the  notices  of  his  predecessors. 

2  HUOTEB.     Milton.     A  Sheaf  of  Gleanings 
after  his  Biographers  and  Annotators.    i.  Gene- 
alogical Investigation,     n.  Notes  on  some  of  his 
Poems.     Critical  and  Historical  Tracts,  No.  III. 
June,  1,850. 

3  MARSH.     Papers  connected  with  the  Affairs 
of  Milton   and  his  Family.     Edited  by  John 
Fitchett  Marsh,  from  the  Original  Documents 
in  his   possession.     Printed  for  the   CheetUwm 
Society.     1857.    4to. 


'  HAMILTON.  Original  Papers  illustrative  of 
the  Life  and  Writings  of  John  Milton,  including 
sixteen  Letters  of  State  written  by  him ;  now 


first  published  from  MSS.  in  the  State  Paper 
Office.  With  an  Appendix  of  Documents  relat- 
ing to  his  Connection  with  the  Powell  Family. 
Collected  and  edited,  with  the  permission  of  the 
Master  of  the  Rolls,  by  W.  Douglas  Hamilton, 
of  H.M.  State  Paper  Office,  and  University  Col- 
lege, London  ;  author  of  "  Outlines  of  the  Con- 
stitutional History  of  England."  J'/-//,/i  .'/;./•  the 
Camden  Society.  M.DCCC.LIX. 

6  The  Poetical  Works  of  Milton.  Rev.  Henry 
J.  Todd,  etc.  1809.  Vol.  ii.,  pp.  210-11. 

6  L'Adamo,  Sacra  Rapresentatione,  da  Gio- 
vanni-Battista  Andreini.  Milano :  Geron.  Bor- 
doni.  1613.  4to. 

This  is  the  first  edition  of  the  work ;  and  from 
the  celebrity  it  has  obtained  from  the  relation  of 
Voltaire,  it  is  much  sought  for,  and  bears  a  high 
price.  The  text  is  illustrated  with  engravings, 
after  the  designs  of  Bocaccini. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTOX. 


73 


During  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth,  and  throughout  the  sixteenth  and  the 
early  part  of  the  seventeenth  centuries,  the  most  popular  productions  of  the  press  in 
Italy  were  the  KAPPRESENTATIONE  SACRE;  Sacred  Dramas  or  Mysteries,- Histories, 
etc.,  of  which  the  Adamo  of  Andreini  was  an  example. 

Warburton,1  as  well  as  Johnson,  ridiculed  the  preceding  relation  of  Voltaire. 
Mickle,  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Milton,  doubted  the  existence  of  the  Adamo ; 
while  Hayley  thought  it  probable  that  Milton  obtained  a  copy  of  it  when  in  Italy. 
Milton  went  to  Italy  in  1638.  The  date  of  the  Lycidas,  as  written  on  the  first 
page  of  the  original  manuscript,  is  November  1637.  Though  the  poems  consecrated 
to  the  memory  of  Edward  King  did  not  appear  until  1638,  yet  the  volume  may 
have  been.printed  at  the  close  of  the  preceding  year,  and  the  contribution  of  Milton 
revised  by  him  in  that  year. 

There  are  no  positive  data  from  which  we  may  determine  what  month  in  1638 
Milton  journeyed  to  Italy.  That  he  did  not  leave  England  until  after  the  13th  of 
April,  1638,  is  evident  from  a  letter2  written  by  Sir  Henry  Wootton  upon  the  subject 
of  his  Comus ;  as  in  that  letter  Sir  Henry  Wootton  gives  advice  to  Milton  upon  the 
subject  of  his  then  intended  travels.  But  the  fact  of  the  original  design  of  a  drama  on 
the  subject  of  Paradise  Lost,  commencing  on  page  34  in  the  Trinity  College  Manu- 
script, immediately  after  the  Lycidas,  proves  that  the  design  of  the  Epic  Poem  was 
not  drawn  until  after  November,  163 7;  and  the  date,  February  9,1645,  to  the  Sonnet, 
page  43  in  the  same  volume,  addressed  to  Henry  Lawes,  satisfactorily  proves  that  the 
drama  was  contemplated  before  that  date.  Milton  returned  to  England  in  1639;3 
but  if  he  sketched  that  design  in  his  Common-Place  Book  during  the  period  of  his 
stay  in  Italy,  Paradise  Lost  may  be  fairly  presumed  to  have  been  designed  or  com- 
menced twenty-eight  years  before  it  appeared,  the  first  edition  bearing  the  date  1668. 
If  he  did  not  form  his  design  before  1644,  as  would  appear  from  the  Manuscript, 
Milton,  in  that  case,  added  nothing  to  his  volume  from  November  1637,  to  February 
1645;  and,  consequently,  the  date  of  that  design  would  be  only  twenty-three  years 
before  Paradise  Lost  appeared. 

With  these  data  before  us,  as  arrived  at,  without  the  smallest  difficulty,  from 
the  examination  of  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  we  are  quite  at  a  loss  to  imagine 
how  so  learned  a  literary  investigator  as  Keightley  could,  with  the  volume  before 
him,  open  his  "Introduction  to  Paradise  Lost"  by  stating,  "It  is  probable  that 
Milton  early  conceived  the  idea  of  writing  an  epic  poem;  but  we  have  no  means  of 


1  Works  of  Milton,  by  Todd.     Vol.  ii.,  pp. 
212-13. 

8  Works  of  Milton,  by  Todd.    Vol.  vi.,  pp. 
179-186. 

3  The  autograph  inscription,  dated  June  10, 


1639,  by  Milton,  in  the  Album  of  the  family  of 
the  Cardouins,  at  Geneva,  proves  the  presence 
of  Milton  at  Geneva  at  that  time.  Mr.  Hunter, 
in  "SHEAF  OF  GLEANINGS"  concerning  Milton, 
p.  23,  notices :  "  It  would  seem  that  he  was  on 
his  return  to  England,  where  he  is  said  to  have 
arrived  in  the  month  of  August,  1639." 


10 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


ascertaining  the  exact  time,  as  there  is  no  hint  of  such  a  design  in  any  thing  he 
wrote  previous  to  his  setting  out  on  his  travels."1 

The  fact  that  no  proof  exists  of  a  first  idea  of  such  a  poem  having  been 
conceived  by  Milton  before  he  went  to  Italy,  and  the  proof  that  it  was  conceived 
either  while  there,  or  immediately  on  his  return,  do  not  warrant  the  assertion  of 
Mr.  Keightley  ,-"/<  is  impossible  now  to  ascertain  when  he  first  conceived  the  idea  of 
making  the  Fall  of  Man  the  subject  of  a  Poem."2  Aubrey,  in  stating  that  Paradise 
Lost  was  not  commenced  until  even  1658,  may  be  correct  as  to  the  fact  of  Milton 
then  only  again  taking  up  the  subject  of  his  intended  Drama,  and  converting  it  into 
the  Poem  as  published. 

In  the  first  design  of  the  Dramatis  Personce,-aee  fac-simile,  plate  IV.,-Milton 
has  recorded  his  original  idea  of  "  OTHER  TRAGEDIES,- ADAM  IN  BANISHMEXT,-THE 
FLOOD.-ABRAM  IN  EGYPT."  Thus  it  is  very  evident  he  contemplated  a  series  of 
Sacred  Dramas;  with  the  view,  no  doubt,  of  shewing  that  such  subjects  could  be 
treated,  and  represented  on  the  stage,  in  a  manner  very  different  from  that  in  which 
they  are  published  or  exhibited  in  Italy. 

While,  however,  paying  tribute  to  the  editorial  labours  of  Archdeacon  Todd,  we 
desire  to  observe,  that,  it  sometimes  happens,  when  distinguished  and  most  learned 
men  undertake  the  editing  of  any  great  work,  they  do  not  always  condescend  to 
enter  sufficiently  into  those  details  which  their  readers  may  perchance  consider  of 
considerable  interest ;  or  they  are  content  to  depend  upon  others  for  information  on 
points  they  do  not  esteem  of  sufficient  importance  to  command  their  personal 
attention.  Whether  the  Venerable  Archdeacon  Todd  devoted  any  time  to  the 
examination  of  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  he  does  not  state.  He  refers  to  it 
frequently,  in  the  same  way  as  other  editors  of  the  poetical  works  of  Milton  have 
done,  taking  for  granted  the  faithful  examination  of  the  Manuscript  by  his  prede- 


cessors. 


1  Life  of  Milton,  by  Keightley,  p.  397. 

*  "  As  we  have  observed  above,  it  is  impossible 
now  to  ascertain  when  he  first  conceived  the 
idea  of  making  the  Fall  of  Man  the  subject  of  a 
poem.  Aubrey  tells  us  that  he  commenced 
Paradise  Lost  in  1658 ;  but  he  must  have  had 
the  subject  in  contemplation  long  before  that 
time.  It  is  also  uncertain  whether  he  at  first 
intended  it  to  be  an  epic  poem  or  a  tragedy. 
Phillips  tells  us  it  was  to  have  been  the  latter ; 
and  he  mentions  some  verses  of  the  commence- 
ment of  Satan's  address  to  the  Sun  in  the 
fourth  book  of  Paradise  Lost,  '  which,'  he  says, 
'  several  years  before  the  poem  was  begun,  were 
shewn  to  him,  and  some  others,  as  designed  for 


the  very  beginning  of  this  tragedy.'  This  ac- 
count, we  think,  may  be  correct  in  the  main  ; 
for  in  the  Cambridge  Manuscript  there  are  two 
plans  of  a  tragedy,  or  mystery,  on  the  Fall  of 
Man,  in  the  second  and  more  perfect  of  whirh 
'Lucifer  appears  after  his  overthrow,  bemoans 
himself,  seeks  revenge  upon  Man  ;'  and  this, 
though  not  the  '  very  beginning  of  this  tragedy,' 
is  Lucifer's  first  appearance,  and  nothing  could 
be  more  appropriate  than  that  address  to  the 
Sun.  It  is  probable  however  that  the  poet 
changed  his  mind  before  he  made  any  progress 
in  the  drama,  for  if  he  had  written  any  portion 
of  the  dialogue,  it  is  likely  that  he  would,  in  his 
usual  manner,  have  preserved  it." — Life  of  Mil- 
ton, by  Keightley,  pp.  399-400. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON.  75 


Accordingly,  after  enumerating  at  the  close  of  the  Poem  the  three  original 
designs  for  the  Tragedy  or  Mystery  of  Paradise  Lost,  as  given  accurately  in 
fac-simile,  plate  IV.,  Archdeacon  Todd  states,  "  The  next  sketch,  as  Dr.  Johnson 
has  remarked,  seems  to  have  attained  more  maturity,  and  is  entitled  ADAM 
UNPARADIZ'D."  Had  the  venerable  editor  seen  or  considered  the  original  manuscript, 
he  might  have  informed  his  readers,  without  quoting  the  authority  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
that,  on  page  40,  after  describing  the  scene  of  the  "  Chorus  of  Shepheards"  in  Sodom, 
Milton  has  given  on  the  same  page  a  more  lengthened  programme  of  his  intended 
Tragedy,  which  closes  with  a  note  by  the  author,  "  Compare  this  with  the  former 
draught." 

The  Tragedy  of  SAMSON  AGONISTES  was  not  published  until  1671,  it  then 
appearing  as  an  addition  to  the  first  edition  of  Paradise  Regained.  It  was  no 
doubt  composed  by  Milton  after  that  poem,  the  subject  being  allegorical  of  the  unison 
"  of  his  own  circumstances  with  those  of  Samson  blind  and  among  the  Philistines." 

Archdeacon  Todd  has  also  given  in  type,  as  "An  Appendix  to  Samson  Agonistes," 
the  contents  of  pages  36,37,  38,39,  40  and  41,  of  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript; 
but  in  doing  so,  he  has  affixed  to  the  chief  subjects  therein  stated,  numerals  from  i. 
to  c.,  the  numbers  continuing  through  the  "British  Tragedy"  outlined  on  pages  37 
and  38.  In  the  original  there  are  no  numerals  to  denote  the  heads  of  the  acts  or 
scenes,  except  those  to  the  design  of  the  Tragedy— not  Tragedies, — illustrative  of  a 
portion  of  British  History  on  pages  37  and  38,  where  the  divisions  are  numbered  by 
Milton  from  1  to  23  inclusive.  Following  the  plan  adopted  by  Archdeacon  Todd, 
the  contents  of  the  same  pages,  together  with  that  of  page  35,  are  reprinted  almost 
line  for  line  in  Mr.  Keightley's  edition  of  the  Poems  of  Milton,  there  also  forming  an 
appendix  to  Samson  Agonistes.  Mr.  Keightley,  however,  leaves  out  all  the  valuable 
information  given  by  Todd  ;  and  does  not  even  record  the  remark  made  by  Milton 
at  the  close  of  this  last  outline  of  Paradise  Lost,  in  reference  to  the  designs  of  the 
Poem,  which  he  had  previously  outlined  on  p.  35. 


]EAELY  all  the  Editions  of  Paradise  Lost,  published  during  the  last 
hundred  years,  contain  very  much  the  same  information  respecting  the 
poem  ;  the  various  Editors  gleaning,  each  in  their  turn,  more  or  less 
from  the  labours  of  their  predecessors.  Yet,  withal,  the  reader  never 
tires,  scanning  the  contents  over  and  over  again,  as  the  school-boy  and 
the  old  man  does  Eobinson  Crusoe.  There  is  indeed  always  something  to  awaken  a 
fresh  interest  in  everything  connected  with  the  composition  of  a  poem  which  has 
reached  almost  every  corner  of  the  civilized  world. 

Never  was  a  work  written  under  similar  and  such  remarkable  circumstances  as 
the  epic  poem  Paradise  Lost.  Its  author  had,  by  Divine  Providence,  been 
permitted  to  survive  the  calamities  which  he  had  been  mainly  instrumental  in 

10-' 


76 


RAMBLIXGS    IX    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


bringing  upon  his  country.  With  the  noblest  feeling  of  independence  he  sought  to 
relieve  his  countrymen  from  a  thraldom  which  bid  fair  to  crush  their  intellectual 
energies.  While  seeking  to  remove  the  fetters  that  enchained  the  freedom  of  opinion 
touching  the  Episcopacy  and  Government  of  the  Church,  Milton  entered  into  an 
arena  of  controversy,  the  extent  of  which  he  could  not  circumscribe.  Placing  his 
utmost  confidence  in  the  MAN  who  appeared,  according  to  his  views,  to  be,  as  it  were, 
appointed  to  carry  out  the  opinions  he  entertained,  Milton  gave  him  the  full  support 
of  his  marvellously  gifted  mind.  He  acted  with  the  purest  motives.  He  believed 
that  the  cause  he  had  espoused  was  the  right  one,  and  in  no  instance  did  he  betray 
it  The  reward  he  met  with  at  the  hands  of  his  Parasite  was  that  of  almost  total 
neglect.  Cromwell  had  gained,  chiefly  by  the  powerful  pen  of  Mil  ton,  the  object  he  had 
in  view,- THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  KiNG,-Milton  had  become  stone  blind  in  the  service 
of  Cromwell ;  who,  finding  him  then  of  comparatively  little  use,  cast  him  off,  reducing 
his  salary  as  Latin  Secretary  to  almost  half  of  its  original  amount !  It  is,  however, 
stated  by  some  of  his  Biographers,  that,  during  the  period  of  his  retirement  from  the 
duties  of  Latin  Secretary  until  the  Eestoration,  he  was  daily  provided  with  "  a  table" 
at  which  he  might  dispense  his  hospitality  to  the  many  Foreigners  and  persons  who 
came  to  visit  him,- a  plum  cake  as  a  peace  offering  to  an  injured  child !  But  it 
was  not  until  a  few  years  after  the  Restoration,  that  the  chief  poetical  production 
of  his  life  was  composed.  He  was  then,  comparatively,  a  happy  man- he  had  outlived 
the  stormy  period  he  had,  unintentionally,  himself  assisted  in  creating.  He  lived 
to  acknowledge  the  clemency  of  his  King,  and  from  that  hour  wrote  nothing  that 
could  in  any  way  justify  an  idea  that  he  received  ungraciously  the  tacit  kindness 
bestowed  upon  him.  Though  Royalty  may  have  felt  that  Milton,  struck  with  total 
blindness,  had  been  visited  by  a  higher  power  with  a  calamity  far  more  severe  than 
death  ;  yet  there  existed  a  strong  party  feeling  against  Milton;  a  party  who  could 
not  forget  the  results  of  his  antecedents.  It  was  during  that  period,  that  Milton 
composed  his  Paradise  Lost.  Glad  to  avail  himself  of  the  services  of  his  family  or 
daily  visitors,  the  poem  was  completed,  a  few  verses  at  a  time,  during  a  period  of 
several  years,  and,  when  published  in  1667,  appeared  without  any  indication  of 
patronage.  It  was  generally  considered  as  the  production  of  the  over-wrought  mind 
of  one  whose  name  had  fallen  into  disrepute  ;  no  one  appearing  willing  to  become 
the  patron  of  the  work  of  a  man  who  by  the  mercy  rather  than  the  justice  of  his 
Sovereign  had  escaped  the  punishment  of  a  regicide. 

Consequently,  the  Publication  of  Paradise  Lost  met  with  no  great  success.  It 
has  been  stated,  that  there  was  a  great  difficulty  in  getting  it  licensed,  and  conse- 
quently in  finding  any  publisher  to  undertake  the  sale  of  it.  We  have  given,  in  the 
ensuing  pages,  a  detailed  account  of  the  many  issues  of  the  first  impression  during 
the  years  1667, 1668,  and  1669,  by  different  booksellers  with  altered  title-pages;  from 
which  we  can  come  to  no  other  conclusion  than  the  foil  owing :  That,  as  the  Agreement 
by  Milton  for  the  sale  of  the  copyright  of  his  Poem  to  Simmons,  bears  date  27  April, 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  77 


1667,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  Simmons,  the  purchaser,  not  feeling  quite  certain 
as  to  what  effect  the  publication  of  a  work  by  Milton  might  have  upon  his  business  as 
a  printer,  withheld  his  own  name  from  the  title-page,  employing  one  Peter  Parker 
ostensibly  to  print  and  sell  the  book.     Simmons  did  not  appear  as  the  Printer  until 

1668,  when,  discovering  that  the  work  was  getting  into  repute,  and  that  his  fears 
were  groundless,  he  had  a  new  title-page  printed,  and  issued  copies  of  the  work  with 
his  own  imprint,  adding  a  few  introductory  pages,  preceded  by  a  short  note,  which 
is  subscribed  with  his  name,  "  S.  Simmons." 


j|N  the  subject  of  the  Sale  of  Paradise  Lost,  the  subjoined  passage  from 
the  powerful  pen  of  Dr.  Johnson  is  particularly  interesting  : 

"  The  slow  sale  and  tardy  reputation  of  this  poem  have  been  always  mentioned 
as  evidences  of  neglected  merit,  and  of  the  uncertainty  of  literary  fame ;  and  enquiries 
have  been  made,  and  conjectures  offered,  about  the  causes  of  its  long  obscurity  and 
late  reception.  But  has  the  case  been  truly  stated  ?  Have  not  lamentation  and 
wonder  been  lavished  on  an  evil  that  was  never  felt  ? 

"  That,  in  the  reigns  of  Charles  and  James,  the  Paradise  Lost  received  no  publick  acclamations, 
is  readily  confessed.  Wit  and  literature  were  on  the  side  of  the  Court :  and  who  that  solicited  favour 
or  fashion  would  venture  to  praise  the  defender  of  the  regicides  ?  All  that  he  himself  could  think  his 
due,  from  evil  tongues  in  evil  days,  was  that  reverential  silence  which  was  generously  preserved.  But 
it  cannot  be  inferred  that  his  poems  was  not  read,  or  not,  however  unwillingly,  admired. 

"  The  sale,  if  it  be  considered,  will  justify  the  publick.  Those  who  have  no  power  to  judge  of 
past  times  but  by  their  own,  should  always  doubt  their  conclusions.  The  call  for  books  was  not  in 
Milton's  age  what  it  is  at  present.  To  read  was  not  then  a  general  amusement ;  neither  traders,  nor 
often  gentlemen,  thought  themselves  disgraced  by  ignorance.  The  women  had  not  then  aspired  to 
literature,  nor  was  every  house  supplied  with  a  closet  of  knowledge.  Those,  indeed,  who  professed 
learning,  were  not  less  learned  than  at  any  other  time  ;  but  of  that  middle  race  of  students  who  read 
for  pleasure  or  accomplishment,  and  who  buy  the  numerous  products  of  modern  typography,  the 
number  was  then  comparatively  small.  To  prove  the  paucity  of  readers,  it  may  be  sufficient  to 
remark,  that  the  nation  had  been  satisfied  from  1623  to  1664,  that  is,  forty-one  years,  with  only  two 
editions  of  the  works  of  Shakspeare,  which  probably  did  not  together  make  one  thousand  copies. 

"  The  sale  of  thirteen  hundred  copies  in  two  years,  in  opposition  to  so  much  recent  enmity,  and 
to  a  style  of  versification  new  to  all,  and  disgusting  to  many,  was  an  uncommon  example  of  the  preva- 
lence of  genius.  The  demand  did  not  immediately  increase  ;  for  many  more  readers  than  were 
supplied  at  first,  the  nation  did  not  afford.  Only  three  thousand  were  sold  in  eleven  years  ;  for  it 
forced  its  way  without  assistance :  its  admirers  did  not  dare  to  publish  their  opinion  ;  and  the  oppor- 
tunities now  given  of  attracting  notice  by  advertisements,  were  then  very  few.  The  means  of 
proclaiming  the  publication  of  new  books  have  been  produced  by  that  general  literature  which  now 
pervades  the  nation  through  all  its  ranks. 

"  But  the  reputation  and  price  of  the  copy  still  advanced,  till  the  Revolution  put  an  end  to  the 
secrecy  of  love,  and  Paradise  Lost  broke  into  open  view  with  sufficient  security  of  kind  reception. 

"  Fancy  can  hardly  forbear  to  conjecture  with  what  temper  Milton  surveyed  the  silent  progress 
of  his  work,  and  marked  its  reputation  stealing  its  way  in  a  kind  of  subterraneous  current  through 
fear  and  silence.  I  cannot  but  conceive  him  calm  and  confident,  little  disappointed,  not  at  all  dejected, 
relying  on  his  own  merit  with  steady  consciousness,  and  waiting  without  impatience  the  vicissitudes 
of  opinion,  and  the  impartiality  of  a  future  generation." 


RAMBLIXGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


Upon  the  same  subject,  the  information  collected  by  Archdeacon  Todd  is  equally 
interesting  : 

"  In  two  years  the  sale  gave  the  poet  a  right  to  his  second  payment,  for  which  the  receipt  was 
signed  April  26,  1669.  The  second  edition  was  not  given  till  1674  :  it  was  printed  in  small  octavo  ; 
and,  by  a  judicious  division  of  the  seventh  and  tenth,  contained  twelve  books.  He  lived  not  to  receive 
the  payment  stipulated  for  this  impression.  The  third  edition  was  published  in  1678  ;  and  his  widow, 
to  whom  the  copy  was  then  to  devolve,  agreed  with  Simmons,  the  printer,  to  receive  eight  pounds  for 
her  right,  according  to  her  receipt  dated  December  21,  1680.  Simmons  had  already  covenanted  to 
transfer  the  right,  for  twenty-five  pounds,  to  Brabazon  Aylmer,  the  bookseller ;  and  Aylmer  sold  to 
Jacob  Tonson  half,  August  17,  1683,  and  the  other  half,  March  24,  1690,  at  a  price  considerably 
advanced. 

"  Of  the  first  edition,  it  has  been  observed  by  Dr.  Johnson,  that  '  the  call  for  books  was  not  in 
Milton's  age  what  it  is  at  present ; — the  nation  had  been  satisfied  from  1623  to  1664,  that  is,  forty- 
one  years,  with  only  two  editions  of  the  works  of  Shakspeare,  which  probably  did  not  together  make 
one  thousand  copies.  The  sale  of  thirteen  hundred  copies  in  two  years,  in  opposition  to  so  much 
recent  enmity,  and  to  a  style  of  versification  new  to  all  and  disgusting  to  many,  was  an  uncommon 
example  of  the  prevalence  of  genius.'  This  remark  will  always  be  read  with  peculiar  gratification,  as 
it  exonerates  our  forefathers  from  the  charge  of  being  inattentive  to  the  glorious  blaze  of  a  luminary, 
before  which  so  many  stars  '  dim  their  ineffectual  light.'  '  The  demand,'  as  Dr.  Johnson  notices, '  did 
not  immediately  increase ;'  because  '  many  more  readers  than  were  supplied  at  first,  the  nation  did 
not  afford.  Only  three  thousand  were  sold  in  eleven  years  ;  for  it  forced  its  way  without  assistance  ; 
its  admirers  did  not  dare  to  publish  their  opinion  ;  and  the  opportunities,  now  given,  of  attracting 
notice  by  advertisements,  were  then  very  few.  But  the  reputation  and  price  of  the  copy  still  advanced, 
till  the  Revolution  put  an  end  to  the  secrecy  of  love,  and  Paradise  Lost  broke  into  open  view  with 
sufficient  security  of  kind  reception.  Fancy  can  hardly  forbear  to  conjecture  with  what  temper 
Milton  surveyed  the  silent  progress  of  his  work,  and  marked  its  reputation  stealing  its  way  in  a  kind 
of  subterraneous  current  through  fear  and  silence.  I  cannot  but  conceive  him  calm  and  confident, 
little  disappointed,  not  at  all  dejected,  relying  on  his  own  merit  with  steady  consciousness,  and 
waiting,  without  impatience,  the  vicissitudes  of  opinion,  and  the  impartiality  of  a  future  generation.' 

"  Milton  indeed  may  be  considered  as  an  illustrious  example  of  patient  merit.  But  his  admirers 
were  not  long  silent.  Witness  the  spirited  verses  of  Barrow  and  Marvell,  prefixed  to  the  second 
edition  of  the  poem  ;  witness  also  the  celebrated  hexastich  of  Dryden,  which  accompanies  the  fourth 
edition  ;  as  well  as  the  liberal  acknowledgment  of  his  obligations  to  Paradise  Lost,  made  almost  imme- 
diately after  the  death  of  Milton  in  the  preface  to  his  State  of  Innocence :  '  I  cannot,  without  injury  to 
the  deceased  author  of  Paradise  Lost,  but  acknowledge,  that  this  poem  has  received  its  entire  founda- 
tion, part  of  the  design,  and  many  of  the  ornaments,  from  him.  What  I  have  borrowed  will  be  so 
easily  discerned  from  my  mean  productions,  that  I  shall  not  need  to  point  the  reader  to  the  places ; 
and  truly  I  should  be  sorry,  for  my  own  sake,  that  any  one  should  take  the  pains  to  compare  them 
together,  tJie  original  being  undoubtedly  one  of  the  greatest,  most  noble,  and  most  sublime  poems,  which 
either  thin  age  or  nation  has  produced.'  "' 

"  Of  the  anecdote,  related  by  Richardson,  respecting  the  celebrity  which  Paradise  Lost  has  been 
supposed  to  owe  to  Denham,  the  accurate  investigation  of  Mr.  Malone  has  detected  the  improbability. 
'  The  elder  Richardson,'  says  this  acute  and  learned  writer,  '  speaking  of  the  tardy  reputation  of 
Paradise  Lost,  tells  us,  and  the  tale  has  been  repeated  in  various  Lives  of  Milton,  that  he  was  informed 
by  Sir  George  Hungerford,  an  ancient  Member  of  Parliament,  many  years  previous  to  1734,  that 
Sir  John  Denham  came  into  the  House  one  morning  with  a  sheet  of  Paradise  Lost  wet  from  the  press, 
in  his  hand;  and,  being  asked  what  it  was,  he  replied,  'Part  of  the  noblest  poem  that  ever  wag  written 

1  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  by  Todd.     Vol.  i.,  pp.  109-11,  115-119. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


79 


in  any  language  or  in  any  age.'  However,  the  book  remained  unknown  till  it  was  produced,  about  two 
years  afterwards,  by  Lord  Buckhurst  on  the  following  occasion.  That  nobleman,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Fleetwood  Shephard,  who  frequently  told  the  story  to  Dr.  Tancred  Robinson,  an  eminent  physician, 
and  Mr.  Richardson's  informer,  looking  over  some  books  in  Little  Britain,  met  with  Paradise  Lost ; 
and,  being  surprised  with  some  passages  in  turning  it  over,  bought  it.  The  bookseller  requested  his 
Lordship  to  speak  in  its  favour,  if  he  liked  it ;  for  the  impression  lay  on  his  liands  as  waste  paper. 
Lord  Buckhurst, — whom  Richardson  inaccurately  calls  the  Earl  of  Dorset,  for  he  did  not  succeed  to 
that  title  till  some  years  afterwards, — having  read  the  poem,  sent  it  to  Dryden,  who  in  a  short  time 
returned  it  with  this  answer :  '  This  man  cuts  us  all  out,  and  tlie  ancients  too.'  Much  the  same 
character,  adds  Mr.  Richardson,  he  gave  of  it  to  a  north  country  gentleman,  to  whom  I  mentioned  the 
book,  he  being  a  great  reader,  but  not  in  a  right  train,  coming  to  town  seldom,  and  keeping  little 
company.  Dryden  amazed  him  with  speaking  loftily  of  it.  'Why,  Mr.  Dryden,'  says  he, — SirW.  L. 
told  me  the  thing  himself, — '  'tis  not  in  rhyme.'  l No;'  replied  Dryden,  ' nor  wmdd  I  have  done  my 
Virgil  in  rhyme,  if  I  was  to  begin  it  again.'  How  Sir  John  Denham  should  get  into  his  hands  one 
of  the  sheets  of  Paradise  Lost,  while  it  was  working  off  at  the  press,  it  is  not  very  easy  to  conceive. 
The  proof-sheets  of  every  book,  as  well  as  the  finished  sheets  when  worked  off,  previous  to  publication, 
are  subject  to  the  inspection  of  no  person  but  the  author,  or  the  persons  to  whom  he  may  confide 
them  ;  and  there  is  no  evidence  or  probability  that  any  intimacy  subsisted  between  Sir  John  Denham 
and  Milton.  Here,  then,  is  the  first  difficulty.  The  next  is,  that  during  a  great  part  of  the  year  1667, 
when  Milton's  poem  probably  was  passing  through  the  press,  the  knight  was  disordered  in  his 
understanding  :  But  a  stronger  objection  remains  behind  ;  for,  on  examination,  it  will  be  found  that 
Denham,  who  is  said  to  have  thus  blazoned  Paradise  Lost  in  the  House  of  Commons,  was  never  in 
Parliament.  Let  us,  however,  wave  this  objection,  and  suppose  this  eulogy  to  have  been  pronounced 
in  a  full  House  of  Commons  in  1667 ;  in  which  year  Milton's  great  poem  according  to  some  of  the 
title-pages  first  appeared,  whilst  others  have  the  dates  of  1668  and  1669.  So  little  effect  had  Denham's 
commendation,  that  we  find  in  two  years  aftenvards  almost  the  whole  impression  lying  on  the  book- 
seller's hands  as  waste  paper  ;  during  which  time  Dryden,  a  poet  himself,  living  among  poets,  and 
personally  acquainted  with  Milton,  had  never  seen  it !  And  to  crown  all,  by  the  original  contract 
between  Milton  and  Simmons  the  printer,  dated  April  27,  1667,  it  was  stipulated,  that,  whenever 
thiiieen  hundred  books  were  sold,  he  should  receive  five  pounds,  in  addition  to  the  sum  originally 
paid  on  the  sale  of  the  copy ;  and  this  second  sum  of  five  pounds  was  paid  to  him,  as  appears  from 
the  receipt,  on  the  26th  of  April,  1669 ;  so  that,  in  two  years  after  the  original  publication,  we  find 
that,  instead  of  almost  the  whole  impression  then  lying  on  the  bookseller's  hands,  thirteen  hundred 
out  of  fifteen  hundred  copies  of  this  poem  had  been  dispersed.  Unless,  therefore,  almost  every  species 
of  incongruity  and  contradiction  can  authenticate  a  narrative,  this  anecdote  must  be  rejected  as  wholly 
unworthy  of  credit." 

"Before  I  quit  the  subject  of  the  first  appearance  of  Paradise  Lost," — the  Venerable  Archdeacon 
Todd  remarks, — "  I  must  notice  a  communication,  made  to  the  publick  not  long  since  by  a  gentleman 
possessing  the  original  edition,  of  the  following  lines,  apparently  written  by  a  female1  on  two  leaves 
prefixed  to  the  title-page  of  his  copy,  and  subscribed  at  the  bottom  with  this  singular  remark : 
'Dictated  liy  J.  M.'  The  communicator  observes,  that  the  daughter  of  Milton  officiated  as  his  amanu- 
ensis ;  and  that,  from  the  remark  already  mentioned,  there  is  some  reason  to  attribute  the  lines  to  the 
author  of  Paradise  Lost.  Different  female  hands,  it  may  be  added,  appear  in  the  manuscript  of  Milton, 


1  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  a  fac-simile 
of  the  writing  of  even  one  of  the  fifteen  lines 
was  not  given  or  sought  for  by  Archdeacon 
Todd.  He,  however,  did  not  possess  much 
antiquarian  feeling.  Had  he  carefully  examined 
the  writing,  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  of 


those  parts  not  in  the  autograph  of  Milton,  he 
would  have  at  once  seen  the  fallacy  of  supposing 
that  portion  of  the  manuscript  to  be  in  the 
autograph  of  "five  females,"  as  stated  by  "Warton, 
and  apparently  acquiesced  in  by  the  learned 
biographer. 


8°  RAMBLINGS    IN  THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


preserved  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  However,  the  bondage  of  rhyme  will  probably  incline  some 
readers  to  doubt  the  authenticity  of  these  lines ;  while  several  striking  sentiments  and  expressions, 
and  the  frequent  flow  of  the  verses  into  each  other,  may  perhaps  occasion  some  also  to  think  them 
genuine,  and  that  the  great  poet  might  have  chosen,  as  an  amusement,  to  employ  once  more  the 
'jingling  sound  of  like  endings.'  Dr.  Symmons,  indeed,  concedes  that  the  testimony  which  has  been 
given,  united  with  what  is  supplied  by  the  verses  themselves,  will  not  suffer  us  to  datibt  of  their  lcini/ 
tin'  production  of  Milton.  The  subject  also  had  been  a  favourite  theme  of  Milton." 

ON  DAT-BREAK. 

"  '  Welcome,  bright  chorister,  to  our  hemisphere  ; 
Thy  glad  approaches  tell  us  Day  is  near. 
See  !  how  his  early  dawn  creeps  o'er  yon  hill, 
And  with  his  grey-ey'd  light  begins  to  fill 
The  silent  air,  driving  far  from  our  sight 
The  starry  regiment  of  frighted  Night ; 
Whose  pale-fac'd  regent,  Cynthia,  paler  grows, 
To  see  herself  pursu'd  by  conquering  foes  ; 
Yet  daring  stays  behind,  to  guard  the  rear 
Of  her  black  armies  whither  without  fear 
They  may  retreat,  till  her  alternate  course 
Bring  her  about  again  with  rallied  force. 
Hark  !  how  the  lion's  terrour  loud  proclaims 
The  gladsome  tidings  of  day's  gentle  beams, 
And,  long-kept  silence  breaking,  rudely  wakes 
The  feather' d  train,  which  soon  their  concert  makes, 
And  with  unmeasur'd  notes,  unnumber'd  lays, 
Do  joyfully  salute  the  lightsome  rays. 
But  hearken  yonder,  where  the  louder  voice 
Of  some  keen  hunter's  horn  hath  once  or  twice 
Recheated  out  its  blast,  which  seems  to  drill 
Th'  opposing  air,  and  with  its  echo  fill. 
Thither  let's  hie ;  and  see,  the  toilsome  hound, 
Willing,  pursues  his  labour,  till  he  has  found 
Some  hope  of  what  he  follows,  then  with  fresht 
And  pleasing  clamour  tells  it  to  the  rest. 

"  '  O  Thou,  who  sometimes  by  most  sacred  voice 
Father  of  Light  wert  styl'd,  let  my  free  choice 
(Though  all  my  works  be  evil,  seldom  right,) 
Shun  loving  darkness  rather  than  the  light. 
Let  thy  essential  brightness,  with  quick  glance, 
Dart  through  the  foggy  mist  of  ignorance 
Into  the  darken'd  intellect,  and  thence 
Dispel  whatever  clouds  o'erspread  the  sense ; 
Till,  with  illuminated  eyes,  the  mind 
All  the  dark  corners  in  itself  can  find, 
And  fill  them  all  with  radiant  light,  which  may 
Convert  my  gloomy  night  to  sun-shine  day. 
Though  dark,  0  God !  if  guarded  by  thy  might 
I  see  with  intellectual  eyes ;  the  night 
To  me  a  noontide  blaze,  illumin'd  by 
The  glorious  splendour  of  thy  Majesty  !'" 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


81 


HE  interest  attached  to  the  First  printed  edition  of  Paradise  Lost 
is  so  universal,  that  we  hope  the  subjoined  Bibliographical 
Memoranda1  of  the  nine  issues  of  that  impression,  as  well  as  of 
the  first  two  editions  of  Paradise  Regained,  will  not  be  con- 
sidered unworthy  of  being  here  recorded. 


I.  PARADISE    10ST.      A  POEM  written  in  ten  books  by  lohn  Milton.      Licensed  and  Entred 

according  to  Order. 

London  printed,  and  are  to  lie  sold  by  Peter  Parker  under  Creed  Church  near  Aldgate ;  and 
l>y  Robert  Boulter  at  tie  Turks  Head  in  Bislwpsgate-street ;  and  Matthias  Walker,  under  St.  Dun- 
stons  Church  in  Fleet-street,  4to.  pp.  342. 1667. 

No  prefatory  matter  was  published  with  this,  the  first  issue  of  the  first  edition.  The  Poem 
commences  immediately  after  the  title,  and  ends  on  reverse  of  V  v  2. 

II.  Paradise  lost,  as  before ;  but  the  name  of  the  author  in  a  larger  italic  type. 

Imprint  tJie  same.  4to.  pp.  342.  1667. 

For  the  information  respecting  the  variation  of  the  type  in  the  title  of  this  issue,  and 

also  in  that  marked  No.  VI.,  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  John  Bryant,  well  known,  some  years 

since,  as  an  industrious  bookseller,  but  now  as  one  of  the  Book- Cataloguers  in  our  house  of 

business. 

III.  Paradise  lost,  a  Poem  in  ten  books.     The  Author  J.  M.     Licensed  and  Entred  according  to 

Order. 

London  Printed,  8fo.,  as  before;  but  in  this  issue,  printed  has  a  capital  P ;  "near"  is  spelt 
"neer,"  and  the  second  and  third  "and"  have  a  capital  A.  4to.  pp.  342.  1668. 

In  some  copies  of  this  issue  are  occasionally  found  the  prefatory  leaves  printed  by 
Simmons ;  but  they  were  evidently  not  issued  with  the  copies  bearing  the  name  of  Peter 
Parker  in  the  imprint.  In  most  copies  of  the  first  issue,  1667,  the  alterations  in  the  imprint 
here  pointed  out  occur. 

IV.  Paradise  lost.     As  before. 

Imprint  the  same.  4to.  pp.  342.  1668. 

In  a  copy  originally  belonging  to  George  Vertue,  the  historical  engraver,  having  the  above 
imprint,  and  bearing  date  1668,  the  type  in  the  body  of  the  title  is  larger.  The  copy5  is 
in  its  original  binding,  and  is  without  any  prefatory  matter.  On  the  title,  Vertue  has  written, 
after  the  Licence,  "  This  being  the  first  Edition  he  published."  He  had  evidently  never  seen  a 
copy  dated  1667.  The  fly-leaf  of  the  copy  bears  an  autograph  note  by  Vertue,  relating  to  the 
portrait  of  Milton  when  twenty-one  years  of  age,  engraved  by  Vertue  from  the  original,  which 
was  in  the  possession  of  the  third  Wife  of  Milton,  passing  afterwards  to  Speaker  Onslow. 

V.  Paradise  lost.     A  Poem  in  ten  books.     The  Author  John  Milton. 

London,  printed  by  S.  Simmons,  and  to  be  sold  by  S.  Thomson  at  tlie  Bishops-Head  in  Dude 
Lane,  H.  Mortlock  at  ihe  Wliite  Hart  in  Westminster  Hall,  M.  Walker  under  St.  Dunstans  Church, 
in  Fleet  street,  and  R.  Boulter  at  the  Turks-Head  in  Bishopsgate  street.  4to.  pp.  356.  1668. 

This  issue  has  a  reprinted  title  and  seven  leaves  of  prefatory  matter,  comprising  "  The 


1  These  Memoranda  are  from  my  Bibliogra- 
phical Account  of  the  Printed  Works  of  the 
English  Poets  until  the  period  of  the  Restora- 
tion. S.  LEIGH  S. 


2  It  was  sold  in  the  Library  of  the  late  Lance- 
lot Holland,  Esq.,  of  Beckenham,  Kent,  in 
Wellington-street,  July  1860.  It  produced 
4Z.  6s. 


11 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


Argument,"  remarks  on  "  The  Verse,"  and  a  list  of  "  Errata,"  preceded  by  the  subjoined 
address  on  the  upper  part  of  the  first  page  of  the  preliminary  matter. 

"  The  Printer  to  the  Reader.  Courteous  Reader,  There  was  no  Argument  at  first  intended 
to  the  Book,  but  for  the  satisfaction  of  many  that  have  desired  it,  I  have  procur'd  it,  and 
withall  a  reason  of  that  which  stumbled  many  others,  why  the  Poem  Rimes  not.  8.  Simmons." 

In  the  British  Museum  copy  of  this  issue,  the  alteration  in  the  Address  appears  as  noted 
in  No.  VU. 

VI.  Paradise  lost,  as  before,  1668  ;  but  before  and  after  the  name  of  the  Author  are  stars  in  lieu,  of 

four  lines  of  ornament,  as  in  the  preceding  issue. 

VII.  Paradise  lost.     A  Poem  in  ten  Books.     The  Author  John  Milton. 

London,  Printed  by  S.  Simmons,  and  are  to  be  sold  by  T.  Helder  at  tlie  Angel  in  Little 
Brittain,  4to.  pp.  356.  1669. 

This  has  the  same  prefatory  matter  as  appeared  in  1668,  with  the  exception  of  the  first 
leaf,  A  2,  of  the  Argument  being  reprinted,  and  having  an  alteration  in  the  Address  from  the 
printer.  The  Address  here  abruptly  leaves  off  after  desired  it,  with  "  is  procured."  In  some 
copies  dated  1668,  this  alteration  in  the  address  occurs.  It  is  singular  to  notice  that  in  the 
British  Museum  copy  of  this  issue,  1669,  this  alteration  in  th  Address  is  not  made. 

VIII.  Paradise  lost,  as  before. 

Imprint  tlie  same,  except  that  the  word  Angel  is  in  capitals,  and  after  tlie  word  Brittain  a 
full  stop  ;  though  the  British  Museum  copy  of  No.  VII.  IMS  the  full  stop.  4to.  pp.  356.  1669. 

In  this  issue,  the  address  to  the  Reader  is  omitted,  and  the  whole  of  the  preliminary 
matter  is  reprinted.  In  some  copies  the  first  leaf  of  the  preliminary  matter  only  is  reprinted, 
as  also  the  last  two  leaves  of  the  Poem. 

IX.  Paradise  lost,  as  before.     In  some  copies  the  date,  1669,  occurs  beneath  the  imprint,  in  lieu  of 

at  the  end  of  the  last  line. 

O — 

Paradise   Lost.     A   Poem   in   Twelve   Books.      The  Author  John  Milton.     The   Second   Edition 

Revised  and  Augmented  by  the  saine  Author. 
London,  Printed  by  S.  Simmons  next  door  to  the  Golden  Lion  in  Aldersgate-street. 

8vo.  pp.  342.  1674. 

Latin  lines,  "  In  Paradisum  Amissam  Summi  Poetse  Johannis  Miltoni,"  subscribed  "  S.  B. 

M.D."     Others  "On  Paradise  Lost,"  by  A.  M. ;    and  " The  Verse"  occupying  three  leaves, 

follow  the  title  ;  the  Poem  then  commencing  on  B,  and  ending  on  Y  7,  p.  333.     On  comparing 

the  title-pages  of  this  and  the  following  edition,  variations  will  probably  be  found. 

Paradise  Lost,  a  Poem  in  Twelve  Books.     The  Author  John  Milton.     The  Third  Edition  Revised  and 

augmented  by  the  same  Author. 
London,  Printed  by  S.  Simmons  next  door  to  tlie  Golden  Lion  ini  Aldersgate-street. 

8vo.  pp.  340.  1678. 

A  portrait  of  the  author  precedes  the  title.     On  A  2  are  commendatory  verses  in  Latin,  by 

S.  B.,  M.D.,  followed  by  others  in  English  by  A.  M.     Then  "  The  Verse"  and  "  The  Argument." 

The  British  Museum  copy  has  a  reprinted  title  bearing  only  the  name  of  Jacob  Tonson  as 

bookseller. 

Paradise  Lost.     A  Poem.     In  Twelve   Books.     The   Author  John  Milton.     The   Fourth   Edition, 

Adorn'd  with  Sculptures. 

London,  Printed  by  Miles  Flesher,for  RMiard  Benttij,  at  the  Post  Office  m  Russell-street,  ,md 
Jacob  Tonson  at  the  Judges-Head  in  Chancery  Lane  near  Fleet-street. 

fol.  pp.  354  without  the  plates.     1G88. 

A  portrait  of  the  author,  by  White,  precedes  the  title.  A  leaf  containing  note  of  "  The 
Verse"  follows  the  title,  the  poem  commencing  on  B ;  the  twelfth  book  ends  on  Z  2,  p.  343, 
after  which  are  three  leaves  occupied  by  the  names  of  the  "Nobility  and  Gentry  That 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


encourag'd,   by   Subscription,   the  Printing  this   edition  of  Milton's   Paradise   Lost."     An 
engraving  precedes  each  book. 

This  is  the  first  folio  edition.     Others  followed  in  1692  and  1695. 
PARADISE    REGAIN'D.     A  Poem  in  IV.  Books.     To  which  is  added  Samson  Agonistes.     The 

Author  John  Milton. 

London,  Printed  by  J.  M.  for  Jolun  Starkey  at  the  Mitre  in  Fleetstreet,  near  Temple-Bar. 

8vo.  pp.  220.   1671. 

First  edition.  The  poem  commences,  without  any  prefatory  matter,  on  B  ;  a  leaf,  with 
"  Licensed,  July  2.  1670,"  preceding  the  title.  On  I,  occurs  another  title,  "  Samson  Agonistes, 
a  Dramatic  Poem."  with  a  motto  from  Aristotle's  Poetics.  Imprint  as  before.  This  piece 
has  fresh  paging,  and  ends  on  P  3,  p.  101,  having  on  the  reverse  some  "Omissa."  This  is 
followed  by  a  page  of  Errata  in  both  Poems. 

It  is  interesting  here  to  notice  that  the  initials  of  Milton  occur  in  the  imprint  as  the  printer 
of  the  volume.     Such  was  frequently  the  case  when  a  work  was  printed  solely  at  the  expense 
of  the  author. 
Paradise  Regain'd,  etc.,  as  before. 

London,  Printed  for  John  Starkey  at  the  Mitre  in  Fleet-street,  near  Temple-liar. 

8vo.  pp.  136.  1680. 

A  leaf  with  "Licensed"  on  it  precedes  the  title;  the  poems  commencing,  without  any 
prefatory  matter,  on  A  3,  p.  5,  and  ending  on  I  2,  rev.,  p.  132  ;  after  which  is  a  catalogue  of 
Books  printed  for  John  Starkey.  "  Samson  Agonistes"  has  a  separate  title-page  on  E  4. 

j]S  at  the  present  day,  so  it  was  in  former  times  frequently  the  custom 
for  an  author  to  be  at  the  expense  of  printing  his  work,  and  to  appoint 
several  booksellers  as  his  agents  to  sell  it.  The  very  early  editions  of 
the  poems  of  Skelton,  Poet-Laureat  during  the  time  of  Henry  VIII., 
bear  in  the  imprint  the  names  of  different  publishers,  namely,  Wight, 
Toy,  Kytson,  Wallye,  Veale,  etc.,  though  in  some  cases  the  same  impression  bears  the 
names  of  only  two  of  them.  Similar  variations  in  the  publishers  occur  in  the  First 
Edition  of  the  Plays  of  Shakespeare  and  in  many  other  works  of  that  period.  In 
some  cases  the  name  of  the  author  or  his  initials  occur  in  the  imprint,  specifying 
that  the  work  was  printed  by  or  for  him.  An  instance  of  the  latter  occurs  in  the 
imprint  to  the  first  edition  of  Paradise  Regain'd  issued  in  1671,  "Printed  by  J.  M. 
for  John  Starkey."  So  again  in  the  imprint  to  "  The  History  of  Britain"  by  Milton, 
1670,  "Printed  by  J.  M.for  James  Allestry." 

The  first  issue  of  copies  of  Paradise  Lost,  1667,  was  without  any  prefatory 
matter,  either  from  Milton  or  the  printer.  The  second  issue,  1667,  only  differs  in  the 
name  of  the  author  being  in  a  larger  type.  The  third  issue,  1668,  bears  only  the 
initials  of  the  author,  J.  M.,  on  the  title.  The.  fourth  issue,  1668,  varies  only  in  the 
title  being  printed  in  a  larger  type.  The  fifth  issue,  1668,  varies  in  the  names  of  the 
printer  and  publishers ;  and  has  seven  leaves  of  preliminary  matter,  comprising  the 
argument  of  the  work,  preceded  by  a  short  address  from  S.  Simmons,  whose  name 
there  appears  for  the  first  time  as  the  Printer  of  the  volume.  The  sixth  issue,  1668, 
differs  only  in  having  stars  before  and  after  the  name  of  Milton.  The  seventh  issue, 
1669,  differs  in  the  ornaments  on  the  title,  in  the  alteration  of  the  address  from  the 


84:  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


Printer,  and  in  the  reprint  of  the  prefatory  leaves.  The  eighth  issue,  1669,  differs 
only  in  the  imprint.  The  ninth  issue,  1669,  differs  only  in  the  date  being  at  the 
foot  of  the  title. 

We  do  not  profess  to  have  collated  the  various  issues  of  the  first  edition  page 
by  page  ;  and  therefore  are  unable  to  confirm  the  statement,  that  some  of  the  leaves 
have  been  cancelled  during  the  printing  of  the  work,  as  related  in  the  subjoined 
note  from  memoranda  made  by  Archdeacon  Todd  on  the  authority  of  Capel  Lofft. 

"  Of  this  edition,  some  errata  appear  to  have  been  corrected  in  some  sheets  while  they  were 
passing  through  the  press.  I  will  mention  an  instance  or  two.  Mr.  Lofft  observes,  that  the  ioTtli 
line  of  the  fifth  book  '  begins  a  new  paragraph  in  his  copy  of  1667,  and  that  of  1669,  and  has  no  comma 
after  cloud :  but  in  that  of  1668  it  continues  unbroken,  and  has  a  comma  after  cloud.'' — I  have  two 
copies  of  1668,  one  of  which,  in  its  original  binding,  begins  a  paragraph  with  this  verse,  and  has  no 
comma  after  cloud.  The  other  agrees  with  Mr.  Lofft's  statement.  Again,  the  list  of  errata  to  my 
copy  of  1668  directs  in  to  be  substituted  for  with,  in  the  penultimate  line  of  the  third  book  :  In  is 
printed  in  both  these  copies  of  1668.  I  have  a  copy  of  1669,  in  which  u-ith  remains.1  In  the  copies  of 
1668  and  1669  the  number  of  this  verse  also  differs.  Several  variations  of  this  kind  might  be  pointed 
out.  Perhaps  some  leaves  were  cancelled." 

"  A  critical  and  careful  collation,"  observes  the  accomplished  Rev.  John  Mitford, 
"  of  the  copies  of  Paradise  Lost,  under  these  title-pages  of  different  dates,  will  discover  several  varia- 
tions in  punctuation,  orthography,  and  paging,  and  sometimes  a  change  of  words  of  one  syllable. 
These  alterations  were  probably  made  in  the  course  of  the  press- work,  which  may  have  been  stopped 
for  new  revised  proofs,  and  to  insert  amendments  occurring  to  the  poet  in  the  progress  of  the  work 
through  the  press.  His  blindness  preventing  his  visual  correction  of  the  proof-sheets,  might  occasion 
repeated  readings  to  him,  and  some  sheets  may  have  been  cancelled." 

PAGES    36,    39,    AND    40. 
PLATES  V.,  VI.,  AND  VII.      FAC-SIMILES  OF  PAGES  36,  39,  AND  40. 

fCRIPTURAL  TRAGEDIES.  Paradise  Lost  was  originally  intended 
to  have  formed  a  Scriptural  Drama,  as  seen  by  the  three  original  plans 
of  Milton  on  page  35  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  fac-similed  in 
the  preceding  Plate  IV.  The  circumstance  of  the  next  pages  in  that 
Manuscript  being  so  immediately  occupied  by  the  designs  of  other 
Dramas,  induces  us  to  think  that  Milton  committed  to  paper,  at  about  the  same  time, 
his  first  designs  of  the  several  Works  he  had  then  in  view.  When  occupied  in  filling 
page  36,  it  is  evident  that,  by  mistake,  he  turned  over  an  extra  leaf  of  the  volume, 
continuing  the  subject  of  page  36  on  page  39,  leaving  pages  37  and  38  blank,  filling 
them  up  afterwards. 

It  is  seen  that,  at  the  close  of  page  39,  the  final  syllable  of  the  word  shep- 
herds was  intended  to  have  been  as  the  connecting  link  for  the  commencement  of 
the  next  page ;  but  in  turning  over,  and  continuing  the  discourse,  Milton  has  acci- 
dentally omitted  it,  and  has  not  afterwards  corrected  the  error. 

1  On  examining  the  copies  in  the  British  Museum  with  regard  to  these  errors,  we  find  them  just 
the  reverse  :  ivith  appearing  in  the  issue  of  1668,  and  in  in  that  of  1669. 


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THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON. 


85 


PAGES   37  AND  38. 
PLATES  VIII.  AND  IX.    FAC-SIMILES   OF   PAGES  37  AND  38. 


IRITISH  TEAJ."  An  outline  of  an  intended  Dramatical  Illustration  of 
Early  British  History.  It  is  arranged  in  thirty-three  divisions  or  head- 
ings, as  seen  in  the  fac-similes  of  the  two  pages.  The  marginal  note  on 
the  side  refers  to  an  amended  passage  in  page  39,  left  side,  as  marked 
"  ivith." 

That  Milton  contemplated  the  production  of  an  Epic  Poem  illustrative  of  Early 
British  History,  some  time  previous  to  his  recording  in  his  poetical  repository  the 
first  design  of  it,-  evidently  written  about  the  same  period  as  the  design  of  Paradise 
Lost  on  page  3  5,-  is  apparent  from  the  subjoined  lines  in  his  poem  addressed  to 
GIOVANNI  BATTISTA  MANSO,  the  friend  of  TOEQUATO  TASSO.  The  poem  was  sent  to 
Manso  when  Milton  left  Naples,  where  he  had  been  introduced  to  and  received 
special  kindness  from  Manso,  who  died  in  1645,  aged  84. 

"  0  mihi  si  mea  sors  talem  concedat  amicum, 
Phoebeeos  decorasse  viros  qui  tarn  bene  norit, 
Siquando  indigenas  revocabo  in  Carolina  reges, 
Arturumque  etiam  sub  terris  bella  moventem  ! 
Aut  dicam  invictae  sociali  fcedere  mensse 
Magnanimos  heroas  ;  et,  O  modo  spiritus  adsit, 
Fraiigam  Saxonicas  Britonum  sub  Marte  phalanges  ! 
Tandem  ubi  non  tacito  permensus  tempora  vitas, 
Annorumque  satur,  cineri  sua  jura  relinquam, 
Ille  miM  lecto  madidis  astaret  ocellis, 
Astanti  sat  erit  si  dicam,  sim  tibi  curaa."  ' 

Thus  translated  by  J.  G.  Strutt  :2 

"  0  that  propitious  fate  to  me  would  send, 
So  kind  a  patron  and  so  true  a  friend  ; 
Should  I  in  verse  recal  each  British  king, 
And  Arthur  still  new  wars  revolving  sing  ; 
Or  lead  th'  heroic  knights  to  light  again, 
Around  the  social  board,  a  dauntless  train  ; 
And  0,  if  spirit  to  the  task  I  feel, 
Break  the  proud  Saxon's  crest  with  Briton's  steel  ! 
Who  when  at  last,  my  destin'd  years  o'erflown, 
The  grave  I  seek,  not  silent  and  unknown, 


1  MANSUS. 
inclusive. 


Sylvarum  Liber,  lines  78  to 


2  The  Latin  and  Italian  Poems  of  Milton, 
translated  into  English  Verse  by  Jacob  George 
Strutt:  8vo.,  1816,  p.  111. 


86 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


Would  my  sad  dying  moments  kindly  cheer, 
And  o'er  me  drop  the  sympathetic  tear, 
To  whom  enough  if  breath'd  this  short  request, 
'  O  let  my  name  still  live  within  thy  breast.'  " 

The  same  idea,  observes  Warton,  occurs  in  the  "JEpitaphium  Damonis"  v.  162. 

"  King  Arthur,  after  his  death,  was  supposed  to  be  carried  into  the  subterraneous  land  of  Faerie 
or  of  Spirits,  where  he  still  reigned  as  a  King,  and  whence  he  was  to  return  into  Britain,  to  renew  the 
Round  Table,  conquer  all  his  old  enemies,  and  reestablish  his  throne.  He  was,  therefore,  Hiiun 
nwvens  betta  sub  ferns,  still  meditating  wars  under  the  earth.  The  impulse  of  his"  [Milton's]  "  attach- 
ment to  this  subject  was  entirely  suppressed :  it  produced  his  History  of  Britain.  By  the  expression, 
revocdbo  in  carmina,  the  poet  means,  that  these  antient  Kings,  which  were  once  the  themes  of  the 
British  Bards,  should  now  again  be  celebrated  in  verse. 

"  Milton,  in  his  CHURCH-GOVERNMENT,  written  1641,  says,  that,  after  the  example  of  Tasso,  '  it 
haply  would  be  no  rashness,  from  an  equal  diligence  and  inclination,  to  present  the  like  offer  in  one 
of  our  own  ANCIENT  STORIES.'  "  ' 

The  design  of  the  British  Tragedy  was  no  doubt  written  soon  after  the  return 
of  Milton  from  Italy. 

"  Ite  domum  impasti,  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Ipse  ego  Dardanias  Rutupina  per  aequora  puppes 
Dicam,  et  Pandrasidos  regnum  vetus  Inogeniae, 
Brennumque  Arviragumque  duces,  priscumque  Belinum, 
Et  tandem  Armoricos  Britonum  sub  lege  colonos; 
Turn  gravidam  Arturo,  fatali  fraude,  logernen, 
Mendaces  vultus,  assumptaque  Gorlb'is  anna, 
Merlini  dolus.     0  mihi  turn  si  vita  supersit, 
Tu  procul  annosa  pendebis  fistula  pinu, 
Multum  oblita  mihi ;  aut  patriis  mutata  Camoenis 
Brittonicum  strides,  quid  enina  ?  omnia  non  licet  uni 
Non  sperasse  uni  licet  omnia,  mi  satis  ampla 
Merces,  et  mihi  grande  decus  (sim  ignotus  in  aevum 
Turn  licet,  externo  penitusque  inglorius  orbi) 
Si  me  flava  comas  legat  Usa,  et  potor  Alauni, 
Verticibusque  frequens  Abra,  et  nemus  omne  Treantaa, 
Et  Thamesis  meus  ante  omnes,  et  fusca  metallis 
Tamara,  et  extremis  me  discant  Orcades  undis." '' 

Thus  also  translated  by  Strutt : 

"  Unpastur'd  go,  ye  lambs,  (affliction  stern 
Your  shepherd  now  enthralls),  to  fold  return. 
I'll  sing  the  leader  of  the  Trojan  host 
On  British  seas,  their  towered  Ilion  lost; 


1  Poems  by  Milton,  with  Notes  by  Warton. 
1791,  pp.  544-5,  wtc. 


3  EPITAPHIUM  DAMONIS.   Sylvarum  Liber,  lines 
161  to  177  inclusive. 


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THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON.  87 


And  fairest  Inogen's  divided  reign, 
Brennus,  Arviragus,  Belinus  old, 

And  haughty  Gallia's  train 
Bow'd  to  the  yoke  of  Britain's  warriors  bold ; 
And  injur'd  Gorlois'  wife  by  spells  deceiv'd, 
Who  Uther  as  her  absent  lord  receiv'd. 
Should  life  permit  these  toils,  my  aged  reed 
Thenceforth  I'll  hang  neglected  on  some  pine ; 
Or  my  lov'd  native  melodies  rehearse, 
And  fill  with  Britain's  praise  the  sounding  verse ; 
Well  pleas'd  if  here  alone  my  notes  succeed, 
(For  one  can  ne'er  in  all  expect  to  shine 
Nor  all  in  one  receive  the  destin'd  meed,) 
And  let  my  fame  live  in  no  foreign  clime, 

Nor  reach  to  future  time, 
So  tawny  Ouse  for  me  her  tresses  bind, 
And  Alain's  flood ;  and  dash'd  in  many  a  fall 
Swift  Humber's  wave,  and  Trent's  wood-crown'd  shore, 
And  oh  !  my  native  Thames,  rever'd  o'er  all, 
And  Tamar's  stream  darken'd  with  dusky  ore, 
And  Orkney's  isles  remote,  where  loud  the  wild  waves  roar." 


PAGE   41. 
PLATE    X.     FAC-SIMILE    OF   PAGE  41. 


COTCH  STOEIES,  OR  RATHER  BRITTISH  OF  THE  NORTH  PARTS.  This 
occupies  the  upper  part  of  the  page,  the  remainder  being  additions  to 
page  40. 


PAGE     42    BLANK. 


RAMBLINGS    IN   THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


SONNETS. 


PAGE   43,  ETC. 
PLATE  XI. 

IONNET  XIII.  "To  MY  FRIEND  MR.  HENRY  LA  WES,  FEB.  9,  1645." 
This  Sonnet  13,  to  his  dear  friend,  Henry  Lawes,  is  fac-similed  No.  1, 
in  this  plate.  It  is  followed  by  a  transcript  of  it,  having,  as  will  be  seen 
by  comparison,  several  alterations.  The  inscription  to  the  transcript  is 
not  in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet :  it  is  in  the  hand  of  the  same  person 
who  was  employed  by  the  Poet  to  rewrite,  at  dictation,  several  of  the  sonnets  he  had 
recomposed,  and  to  make  alterations  in  others.  The  ink  used  in  the  heading  is  of  a 
lighter  colour,  corresponding  with  that  used  by  the  Amanuensis  of  Milton.  The  page 
closes  with  Sonnet  11,  headed,  "On  the  detraction  ufh  follow' d  upon  my  writ  in;/ 
certain  treatises."  The  word  "detraction"  has  been  crossed  over  by  the  pen  of  Milton. 

PAGE  44  contains  two  copies  of  Sonnet  14,  "On  ye  religious  memorie  of 
Mrs.  Catharine  Thomson,  my  Christian  friend,  deceased  16  December  1646."  The 
inscription  has  had  a  line  drawn  through  it  by  the  pen  of  Milton,  whose  numerous 
corrections  in  the  first  copy  rendered  the  second  necessary. 

PAGES  45  and  46.  These  two  pages  are  written  on  an  inserted  small  leaf  of  a 
quarto  size.  Page  45  contains  another  transcript  of  the  Sonnet  13,  to  Henry 
Lawes ;  and  also  another  of  Sonnet  1 4,  of  which  there  are  two  in  the  autograph 
of  the  Poet  on  the  opposite  page.  On  page  46  is  a  transcript  of  Sonnet  11  and  also 
of  Sonnet  12,  which  latter  commences  page  47. 

No.  II.  in  this  plate,  gives  the  fac-simile  of  the  transcript  of  Sonnet  1 1  on  page  46, 
and  also  the  commencement  of  Sonnet  12.  The  writing  of  pages  45  and  46  is  in  the 
hand  of  the  Amanuensis  by  whom  the  inscription  over  the  second  transcript  of  the 
Sonnet  to  Henry  Lawes,  page  43,  was  written.  The  original  of  Sonnet  1 1  is  in  the 
autograph  of  Milton  on  page  43.  That  of  Sonnet  12,  on  page  47,  is  also  in  Milton's 
autograph. 

The  attention  of  our  readers  is  now  particularly  requested  to  the  heading  which 
occurs  over  the  transcript  of  Sonnet  11  in  this  plate.  In  the  first  edition  of  the 
Poems  of  Milton,  issued  in  1645,  there  only  appear  ten  Sonnets.  Here,  then,  we 
have  a  plain  direction  that  "These  sonnets  follow  tf  10  in  if  printed  looke."  This 
heading  is  in  the  same  hand  as  was  employed  in  that  "To  Mr.  Hen.  Lawes  on 
the  pMishing  of  his  Aires,"  over  the  second  copy  in  the  autograph  of  Milton  of 
Sonnet  13.  The  handwriting  there  employed,  we  believe  to  be  the  same  hand  at 
different  periods,  and  the  only  one,  except  in  Sonnet  8,  page  9,  employed  in  the 
volume. 


XI 


T^yTW^^. 


T 


O 


/W-A-  f&4,f- 


^^ 

'  I  " 


-     -  ~  : 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  89 


That  the  heading  to  the  transcript  of  Sonnet  11,  on  the  top  of  page  46,  is  a 
special  direction,  is  clear.  The  question,  therefore,  arises,  whether  Milton  had  not 
intended  to  have  published  a  second  and  more  perfect  edition  of  his  Minor  Poems 
at  a  much  earlier  period  than  1673;  and  consequently,  when  employing  his  friend 
or  Amanuensis  to  rewrite  some  of  his  Sonnets,  made  fresh  headings  to  others.  It  is, 
however,  curious  to  note,  that,  in  the  second  edition  of  the  Poems,  in  1673,  these 
headings  are  either  altered  or  omitted  altogether. 

The  direction,  "on  yf  forcers  of  conscience  to  come  in  heer,"  on  the  left  side  of 
the  erased  title  of  Sonnet  15,  is  in  the  autograph  of  Milton;  while  that  immediately 
under,  "  turn  over  the  leafe,"  is  in  the  more  careful  smaller  semi-cursive  hand  of  the 
Amanuensis  used  in  the  other  sonnets. 


PAGE   47,  ETC. 
PLATE    XII. 

[HE  first  Sonnet  on  page  47  is  the  original  of  Sonnet  12,  here  given  in 
fac-simile  No.  II. 

"  I  WRIT   A   BOOKE   OF   LATE   CALI/D   TETRACHORDON." 

The  first  three  and  other  lines  have  been  corrected  by  the  Amanuensis 
of  Milton ;  hence  his  transcript,  on  the  opposite  page,  commencing, 
"  A  booke  was  writ  of  late  call'd  Tetrachordon." 

Of  the  cause  of  this  very  sarcastic  Sonnet,  the  Venerable  Archdeacon  Todd  notes  : 

"  This  elaborate  discussion,  unworthy  in  many  respects  of  Milton,  and  in  which  much  acuteness 
of  argument,  and  comprehension  of  reading,  were  idly  thrown  away,  was  received  with  contempt,  or 
rather  ridicule,  as  we  learn  from  Howel's  Letters.  A  better  proof  that  it  was  treated  with  neglect,  is, 
that  it  was  attacked  by  two  nameless  and  obscure  writers  only  ;  one  of  whom  Milton  calls,  a  Serving- 
man  turned  Sollicitor  !  Our  author's  divorce  was  on  Platonick  principles.  He  held,  that  disagree- 
ment of  mind  was  a  better  cause  of  separation  than  adultery  or  frigidity.  Here  was  a  fair  opening 
for  the  laughers.  This  and  the  following  Sonnet  were  written  soon  after  1645.  For  this  doctrine 
Milton  was  summoned  before  the  Lords.  But  they  not  approving  his  accusers,  the  presbyterian 
clergy,  or  thinking  the  business  too  speculative,  he  was  quickly  dismissed.  On  this  occasion  Milton 
commenced  hostilities  against  the  Presbyterians.  He  illustrates  his  own  system  in  this  line  of  Par. 
Lost,  book  ix.,  372  : 

"  '  Go,  for  thy  stay,  not/ree,  absents  thee  more.' 

Milton  wished  he  had  not  written  this  work  in  English.  This  is  observed  by  Mr.  Bowie,  who  points 
out  the  following  proof,  in  the  Defensio  Secwnda :  '  Vellem  hoc  tantum,  sermone  vernaculo  me  non 
scripsissc  :  non  enim  in  vernas  lectores  incidissem  ;  quibus  solenne  est  sua  bona  ignorare,  aliorum 
mala  irridere."  Prose  Works,  ii.,  331.  This  was  one  of  Milton's  books  published  in  consequence  of  his 
divorce  [separation]  from  his  first  wife.  TetracJwrdon  signifies  Expositions  on  the  four  chief  places  in 
Scripture  which  mention  marriage  or  nullities  in  marriage.  T.  Warton."1 

1  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  edited  by  the  Rev.  H.  Todd.     Vol.  vi.,  pp.  463-4. 

12 


90  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


ONNET  XV.  follows  Sonnet  12  on  page  47.     It  is  inscribed, 

"ON  YE  LORD  GEN.  FAIRFAX  AT  YE  SEIGE  OF  COLCHESTER." 

The   inscription  has  been   subsequently  erased   by  the  pen  of  the 
Amanuensis,  who  has  noted  at  the  side  " turn  over  the  leafe"  referring 
to  the  Sonnet  that  should  come  in. 

"  Nor  would  it  be  right  to  pass  over  the  name  of  Fairfax,  who  united  the  utmost 
fortitude  with  the  utmost  courage ;  and  the  spotless  innocence  of  whose  life  seemed 
to  point  him  out  as  the  peculiar  favourite  of  Heaven."1 

Such  were  the  eulogistic  feelings  of  Milton  on  the  noblest  of  all  the  Parlia- 
mentary Generals;  one  who  had  been  driven  to  take  part  against  his  King  by  the 
duplicity  the  Monarch  had  unhappily  displayed  in  all  his  transactions  with  the 
Army.  The  heart  of  Fairfax,  however,  can  never  be  said  to  have  been  wholly 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  Cromwell.  Fairfax  was  never  prepared  to  proceed  to 
extremities  against  the  life  of  Charles;  and  when  that  deed  was  consummated,  he, 
like  many  others,  no  longer  served  the  Parliamentary  Army  with  that  zeal  which 
has  been  emblazoned  in  the  almost  prophetic  verse  of  Milton  : 

"  0  yet  a  nobler  task  awaits  thy  hand, 
(For  what  can  war,  but  endless  war  still  breed  ?) 
Till  Truth  and  Right  from  violence  be  freed." 

Milton,  who  stood  firm  to  the  last,  could  not  but  deeply  feel  the  return  of 
Fairfax  to  allegiance  to  his  King.  Consequently,  in  the  edition  of  the  Poems  of 
Milton,  issued  only  the  year  before  he  died,  he  would  not  allow  the  Sonnet  in  praise 
of  Fairfax  to  be  inserted.  It  was  published  for  the  first  time  in  1694,  with  four 
others,  at  the  close  of  the  Memoir  affixed  to  the  "  State  Letters." 

The  direction  on  the  left  side  of  the  Sonnet,  "on  y*  forcers  of  conscience  to  come 
in  heer"  is  in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet ;  but  not  so  the  words  "  turn  over  the  leafe" 
as  before  stated.  The  erasures  of  the  headings  to  the  Sonnet  are  by  the  same  hand, 
and  made,  no  doubt,  at  the  same  time  as  the  erasure  of  the  heading  of  the  Cromwel- 
lian  Sonnet  on  the  same  page. 

The  first  fac-simile  in  this  Plate  XII.  is  of  SONNET  9,  and  of  which  we  have 
also  given  an  FJectro-Block  Fac-simile,  p.  58,  accompanied  by  an  attempt  to  shew 
that  it  was  addressed  to  the  "Fair Miss  Davis"  whom  Milton  was  desirous  to  make 
his  wife  in  the  event  of  his  obtaining  general  assent  to  the  views  he  had  promulgated 
on  the  subject  of  Divorce. 

1  See  close  of  extract  from  the  "  Second  Defence,"  appended  to  the  Sonnet  to  Cromwell. 


sn. 


f-A  «/ 

Defter  p-vi 


/w?r.s 


TTKETC.U.TE. LITHE*    CAKUUDUI 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


91 


|ONNET  XVI.  "To  THE  LORD  GENERAL  CROMWELL  1652.  ON  THE 
PROPOSALLS  OF  CERTAINE  MINISTERS  AT  THE  COMMITTEE  FOR  PRO- 
PAGATION OF  THE  GOSPELL."  It  follows  15  on  page  47. 


//  /- 

7<m  rf-K*.  (fOffdL' 


H^t/u>'  t     <J~n^t+ 


*?e 


<^y 


Here  the  reader  is  presented  with  another  specimen  of  an  Electro-Block 
Fac-simile.  The  Sonnet  is  in  the  same  autograph  as  Sonnets  21,  22,  and  23; 
but  it  is  executed  in  a  larger  and  more  free  style.  It  is  rather  in  a  semi-cursive 
hand,  coarsely  written;  while  the  others  are  in  a  set  cursive  character,  Sonnet  23 
being  most  carefully  executed  with  a  fine  pen.  A  little  patient  examination  of  the 
writing  in  these  sonnets,  and,  elsewhere,  in  the  smaller  cursive  hand  used  by  the 
Amanuensis,  will  soon  convince  the  observer  of  the  identity  of  the  autograph. 
Warton,  p.  5  8  9,  considered  the  Sonnet  16  to  be  "in  a  female  hand."  We  are  at  a  loss 
to  discover  upon  what  grounds  the  learned  Warton  could  come  to  such  a  conclusion. 

This  Sonnet  is  numbered  1 6,  and  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the  number  has 
been  added,  in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet,  at  the  close  of  Sonnet  15,  and  evidently 
with  the  intention  of  writing  the  Sonnet  16  in  the  blank  space  he  had  left  on 


92  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


the  page.  It  would  appear  as  if  Sonnet  15  was  the  last  written  by  the  hand  of  Milton 
in  the  volume.  It  must  be  a  matter  of  conjecture  whether  the  Cromwellian  Sonnet 
was  written  in  the  volume  at  the  time  of  its  composition,  or  whether  it  was  added  a 
few  years  afterwards.  Certain  it  is,  that  it  underwent  revision  at  the  dictation  of 
the  Poet,  the  partial  erasure  of  the  title  being  made  at  the  same  time  and  with  the 
same  ink  with  which  Sonnet  15  is  written. 

The  omission  of  this  Sonnet  in  the  1673  edition  of  the  author's  Poems  evidently 
arose  from  a  sensitive  feeling  of  delicacy  on  the  part  of  Milton.  He  had  experi- 
enced the  forgiveness  of  his  King ;  and  though  he  may  not  have  received  any  direct 
favour,  yet  he  could  not  but  have  felt,  that,  notwithstanding  his  unflinching  deter- 
mination to  uphold  the  views  he  had  taken,  unexpected  and  undeserved  clemency 
had  been  shewn  him. 

The  reduction  of  the  Salary  of  Milton  from  300l.  a  year  to  150?.  when  deprived 
of  his  sight  by  the  overstrained  use  of  his  eyes  in  furthering  the  cause  of  Cromwell, 
is  of  itself  sufficient  to  shew  the  ingratitude  of  the  Usurper.  Under  what  pretence 
of  Economy  could  Cromwell  justify  such  an  act  ?  Was  it  his  puritanical  mode  of 
acknowledging  the  praises  lavished  upon  him  by  Milton  inl  654,  in  his  "Second  Defence 
of  the  People  of  England?"  Did  not  the  loss  of  eyesight  by  his  coadjutor,  Milton, 
fairly  demand  assistance  to  be  afforded  in  his  duties  without  reducing  the  pittance 
he  received?  True  it  is,  that  Milton  had  in  June  16501  rooms  allotted  to  him  at 
Whitehall,  with  permission  to  decorate  them,  with  some  of  the  royal  "hangings"; 
but  even  this  act  of  accommodation  did  not  last  long;  as,  in  1651,  an  order  was 
issued,  "for  his  spedie  removal  out  of  his  Lodgings  in  Whitehall"  an  order  evidently 
opposed  by  the  Council  of  State,  because  the  employment  of  Milton  "  necessitated 
him  to  reside  neer  the  Councell."2  Milton,  however,  took  the  hint,  and  "  soon  after," 
leaving  his  State  Lodgings,  went  to  "a  pretty  Garden  house  in  Petty-France  in 
Westminster,"  where  he  remained  "eight  years,  namely,  from  the  year  1652,  till 
within  a  few  weeks  of  the  Restoration  of  King  Charles  the  Second."3 

The  order  for  the  reduction  of  the  salary  of  Milton  to  just  half  the  amount  he 
had  previously  received  is  dated  April  17th,4  1655,  at  the  very  period  that  Milton 
was  fully  experiencing  the  misery  of  total  blindness.  However  much  he  may  after- 
wards have  yielded  his  lofty  spirit  to  submission  under  such  an  indignity,  he  was  not 
the  man  in  the  midst  of  the  political  struggles  then  going  on  around  him,-struggles 
in  which  he  himself  had  taken  so  prominent  a  part,-to  bear  such  public  ingratitude 
without  at  first  inwardly  feeling  that  his  services  merited  other  treatment. 

Cromwell  had  gained  his  cause.  His  poor  pen-man  was  blind  and,  officially, 
almost  useless.  He  was,  therefore,  rewarded  with  half  pay  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life;  a  contract,  the  fulfilment  of  which  could  only  be  calculated  on  by  the 


i 


Order  of  the  Council  Book. 


State,"  1694,  p.  xxxiii. 
*  Ib.,  1651,  June  11. 


3  Memoir  by  Edward  Phillips  in  "  Letters  of 


4  Order  of  the  Council  Book,  "1655,  April  17." 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  93 


continuance  of  the  then  tottering  Commonwealth.  Thus  was  the  "  man  of  the  day," 
by  whose  pen  the  ambitious  designs  of  Cromwell  were  aided  and  vindicated,  re  warded. 
No  words,  however,  of  reproach  are  recorded  to  have  been  used  by  Milton 
against  the  Man  to  whom  he  had  become,  as  it  were,  spell-bound.  Mark  here  the 
laudatory  character  given  of  Cromwell  by  Milton  in  his  "Defensio  Secunda,"  1654.1 

"  But,  in  speaking  of  such  a  man,  who  has  merited  so  well  of  his  country,  I  should  do  nothing  if 
I  only  exculpated  him  from  crimes ;  particularly  since  it  not  only  so  nearly  concerns  the  country,  but 
even  myself,  who  am  so  closely  implicated  in  the  same  disgrace,  to  evince  to  all  nations,  and,  as  far 
as  I  can,  to  all  ages,  the  excellence  of  his  character,  and  the  splendour  of  his  renown.  Oliver  Crom- 
well was  sprung  from  a  line  of  illustrious  ancestors,  who  were  distinguished  for  the  civil  functions 
which  they  sustained  under  the  monarchy,  and  still  more  for  the  part  which  they  took  in  restoring 
and  establishing  true  religion  in  this  country.  In  the  vigour  and  maturity  of  his  life,  which  he  passed 
in  retirement,  he  was  conspicuous  for  nothing  more  than  for  the  strictness  of  his  religious  habits,  and 
the  innocence  of  his  life ;  and  he  had  tacitly  cherished  in  his  breast  that  flame  of  piety  which  was 
afterwards  to  stand  him  in  so  much  stead  on  the  greatest  occasions,  and  in  the  most  critical  exigen- 
cies. In  the  last  parliament  which  was  called  by  the  King,  he  was  elected  to  represent  his  native 
town,  when  he  soon  became  distinguished  by  the  justness  of  his  opinions,  and  the  vigour  and  decision 
of  his  councils.  When  the  sword  was  drawn,  he  offered  his  services,  and  was  appointed  to  a  troop  of 
horse,  whose  numbers  were  soon  increased  by  the  pious  and  the  good,  who  flocked  from  all  quarters 
to  his  standard ;  and  in  a  short  time  he  almost  surpassed  the  greatest  generals  in  the  magnitude  and 
the  rapidity  of  his  achievements.  Nor  is  this  surprising ;  for  he  was  a  soldier  disciplined  to  perfec- 
tion in  the  knowledge  of  himself.  He  had  either  extinguished,  or  by  habit  had  learned  to  subdue,  the 
whole  host  of  vain  hopes,  fears,  and  passions,  which  infest  the  soul.  He  first  acquired  the  govern- 
ment of  himself,  and  over  himself  acquired  the  most  signal  victories ;  so  that  on  the  first  day  he  took 
the  field  against  the  external  enemy,  he  was  a  veteran  in  arms,  consummately  practised  in  the  toils 
and  exigencies  of  war.  It  is  not  possible  for  me  in  the  narrow  limits  in  which  I  circumscribe  myself 
on  this  occasion,  to  enumerate  the  many  towns  which  he  has  taken,  the  many  battles  which  he  has 
won.  The  whole  surface  of  the  British  empire  has  been  the  scene  of  his  exploits,  and  the  theatre  of 
his  triumphs ;  which  alone  would  furnish  ample  materials  for  a  history,  and  want  a  copiousness  of 
narration  not  inferior  to  the  magnitude  and  diversity  of  the  transactions.  This  alone  seems  to  be  a 
sufficient  proof  of  his  extraordinary  and  almost  supernatural  virtue,  that  by  the  vigour  of  his  genius, 
or  the  excellence  of  his  discipline,  adapted,  not  more  to  the  necessities  of  war  than  to  the  precepts  of 
Christianity,  the  good  and  the  brave  were  from  all  quarters  attracted  to  his  camp,  not  only  as  to  the 
best  school  of  military  talents,  but  of  piety  and  virtue ;  and  that  during  the  whole  war,  and  the 
occasional  intervals  of  peace,  amid  so  many  vicissitudes  of  faction  and  of  events,  he  retained  and  still 
retains  the  obedience  of  his  troops,  not  by  largesses  or  indulgence,  but  by  his  sole  authority  and  the 
regularity  of  his  pay.  In  this  instance  his  fame  may  rival  that  of  Cyrus,  of  Epaminondas,  or  any  of 
the  great  generals  of  antiquity.  Hence  he  collected  an  army  as  numerous  and  as  well  equipped  as 
any  one  ever  did  in  so  short  a  time ;  which  was  uniformly  obedient  to  his  orders,  and  dear  to  the 
affections  of  the  citizens ;  which  was  formidable  to  the  enemy  in  the  field,  but  never  cruel  to  those 
who  laid  down  their  arms  ;  which  committed  no  lawless  ravages  on  the  persons  or  the  property  of 
the  inhabitants ;  who,  when  they  compared  their  conduct  with  the  turbulence,  the  intemperance,  the 
impiety,  and  the  debauchery  of  the  royalists,  were  wont  to  salute  them  as  friends,  and  to  consider  them 
as  guests.  They  were  a  stay  to  the  good,  a  terror  -to  the  evil,  and  the  warmest  advocates  for  every 
exertion  of  piety  and  virtue.  Nor  would  it  be  right  to  pass  over  the  name  of  FAIRFAX,  who  united 
the  utmost  fortitude  with  the  utmost  courage ;  and  the  spotless  innocence  of  whose  life  seemed  to 
point  him  out  as  the  peculiar  favourite  of  Heaven." 

1  Prose  Works  of  Milton,  by  J.  A.  St.  John.     5  vols.     E.  G.  Bokn.     Vol.  i.,  pp.  285-6. 


94 


R AMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


PAGE  48. 

PLATE    XIII. 

[ONNET  XVII.  "To  SR  HENRY  VANE  THE  YOUNGER."  This  maybe 
considered  as  the  last  page  in  the  volume,  as  originally  made  up,  on 
which  there  are  any  productions  from  the  pen  of  Milton.  The  sonnet, 
as  also  the  one  following,  at  first  sight  has  the  appearance  of  having 
been  written  by  a  different  hand  from  that  used  on  the  inserted  leaf 
pages  45  and  46;  which  writing,  Warton,  page  589,  considered  to  be  "a  man's 
hand."  On  a  careful  examination,  the  hand  will  be  seen  to  be  the  same;  the 
difference  being,  that  the  writing  on  page  48  is  in  a  more  decidedly  round,  yet 
remarkably  free  hand,  so  far  as  regards  the  flourish  of  the  pen.  The  inscription  has 
been  erased  at  the  same  period  as  the  inscriptions  over  Sonnets  15  and  16  in  the 
page  preceding. 

Subjoined  is  the  note  upon  the  subject  of  this  Sonnet,  from  the  pen  of  the 
Venerable  Archdeacon  Todd : 

"  Perhaps  written  about  the  time  of  the  last  [to  Cromwell],  having  the  same  tendency.  Sir  Henry 
Vane  the  younger  was  the  chief  of  the  independents,  and  therefore  Milton's  friend.  He  was  the 
contriver  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant.  He  was  an  eccentrick  character,  in  an  age  of  eccen- 
trick  characters.  In  religion  the  most  fantastick  of  all  enthusiasts,  and  a  weak  writer,  he  \v;is  a 
judicious  and  sagacious  politician.  The  warmth  of  his  zeal  never  misled  his  publick  measures.  He 
was  a  knight-errant  in  every  thing  but  affairs  of  state.  The  sagacious  Bishop  Bui-net  in  vain  attempted 
to  penetrate  the  darkness  of  his  creed.  He  held,  that  the  devils  and  the  damned  would  be  saved. 
He  believed  himself  the  person  delegated  by  God,  to  reign  over  the  saints  upon  earth  for  a  thousand 
years.  His  principles  founded  a  sect  called  the  Vanists.  On  the  whole,  no  single  man  ever 
exhibited  such  a  medley  of  fanaticism  and  dissimulation,  solid  abilities  and  visionary  delusions,  good 
sense  and  madness.  In  the  pamphlets  of  that  age  he  is  called  Sir  Humourous  Vanity.  He  was 
beheaded  in  1662.  On  the  scaffold,  he  compared  Tower  Hill  to  Mount  Pisgah,  where  Moses  went  to 
die,  in  full  assurance  of  being  immediately  placed  at  the  right  hand  of  Christ.  Milton  alludes  to  tin- 
execution  of  Vane  and  other  regicides,  after  the  Restoration,  and  in  general  to  the  sufferings  of  his 
friends  on  that  event,  in  a  speech  of  the  Chorus  on  Samson's  degradation,  Sams.  Ayon.,  v.  687.  See 
also  Ibid.,  v.  241.  This  Sonnet  seems  to  have  been  written  in  behalf  of  the  independents,  against  the 
presbyterian  hierarchy.  T.  Warton."1 

POEM  "ON  THE  FORCERS  OF  CONSCIENCE."  This  poem  is  by  Warton 
and  other  editors  of  the  Poems  of  Milton  inscribed,  "On  the  new 
forcers  of  conscience  under  the  Long  Parliament;"  an  addition  not  in 
the  original,  as  seen  in  the  fac-simile  of  the  first  four  lines,  No.  II.  in 
this  plate  XIII.  The  line  erased  on  the  right  is  merely  a  direction  "  to 
come  in  as  directed  on  the  leafe  before."  It  is  in  the  same  peculiar  cursive  round 
hand  as  Sonnet  1 7,  which  bears  evidence  of  having  been  corrected  at  the  dictation 
of  Milton. 


1  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  edited  by  the  Rev.  H.  Todd.     Vol.  vi.,  p.  480. 


Mil. 


.  fail  rhrt&  ean  Ja 

' 


y 

J 


^  /  //      i 

otttvarv  t>/?tflf  ormjunub 


fit 


t** 


f!0rti> 

Of  fun  or  Moon  or&am 
Or 
ra  tnyfflSusfo  ncmd  {rrm 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON.  95 


PAGE   49. 

|  ONNETS  XXI.  AND  XXII.  To  CYRIACK  SKINNER.  The  leaf  on  which 
these  two  Sonnets  are  written,  has  been  taken  from  another  volume. 
The  paper  is  of  the  same  quality  and  size  as  some  of  that  used  in  the 
latter  portion  of  the  Manuscript  De  Doctrinu  Christiana,  preserved 
in  the  State  Paper  Office.  Our  fac-simile,  No.  II.  in  this  plate  XIII., 
gives  the  whole  of  that  most  interesting  Sonnet,  addressed  by  the  Poet  ON  His 
BLINDNESS,  to  his  much  loved  friend  Cyriack  Skinner.  That  the  leaf  formed  part  of 
another  volume,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  first  four  lines  of  Sonnet  21,  which 
occupies  the  upper  part  of  the  page,  are  wanting,  which  were  no  doubt  written  on 
the  preceding  page  in  the  volume  whence  it  was  taken. 

The  person  into  whose  hands  the  volume  of  these  Juvenile  and  other  Poems  of 
Milton  had  fallen,  was  doubtless  desirous  of  adding  that  which  would  considerably 
increase  its  value,  and  accordingly  introduced  the  leaf,  elsewhere  obtained,  containing 
the  Poet's  own  record  of  his  total  blindness.  Peculiarly  interesting  is  this  addition, 
as  it  contains  on  the  ensuing  page  that  remarkable  and  very  beautiful  Sonnet,  23, 

"ON  HIS  DECEASED  WIFE." 

"  Mee  thought  I  saw  my  late  espoused  saint 

brought  to  me  like  Alcestis  from  the  grave 
whom  Joves  great  son  to  her  glad  husband  gave 
rescu'd  from  death  by  force  though  pale  and  faint. 

Mine  as  whom  washt  from  spot  of  childe-bed  taint 
purification  in  the  old  law  did  save 
and  such  as  yet  once  more  I  trust  to  have 
full  sight  of  her  in  heaven  without  restraint, 

came  vested  all  in  white,  pure  as  her  minde  : 
her  face  was  vaild,  yet  to  my  fancied  sight 
love,  sweetness,  goodness,  in  her  person  shin'd 

soe  cleare,  as  in  no  face  with  more  delight. 
But  oh  as  to  imbrace  me  she  inclin'd, 
I  wak'd,  she  fled,  and  day  brought  back  my  night." 

His  second  wife,  to  whom  it  is  believed  Milton  was  most  affectionately  attached, 
died  in  child-bed,  February  1658;  soon  after  which  event,  it  is  supposed  that  this 
Sonnet  was  written. 

PAGES   51    TO    54    BLANK. 

With  the  exception  of  leaf,  pages  45  and  46;  and  leaf,  pages  49  and  50,  which 
are  of  a  smaller  size,  the  whole  of  the  paper  in  the  volume  is  of  the  same  make ; 
the  paper-mark  being  a  vase  with  the  initials  "  T.  B."  We  note  this,  to  shew  that 
the  volume  was  formed  when  commenced,  and  not  made  up  of  loose  sheets,- an 
important  point,  as  recording  the  order  in  which  the  various  pieces  were  written. 


RAMBLIXGS    IX   THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


|N  concluding  our  summary  of  the  contents  of  the  "  Milton  Manu- 
script" preserved  in  the  Library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
we  desire  to  offer  our  thanks  to  the  Master  and  Fellows  of  that 
Society  for  the  liberal  manner  in  which  we  have  been  allowed  to 
make  use  of  the  volume  for  the  object  of  our  pursuit.  We  desire 
further  to  tender  to  the  Eev.  H.  A.  J.  Monro,  and  to  J.  W.  Clarke, 
Esq.,1  our  special  acknowledgment  for  their  kind  communication 
of  information  obtained  by  researches  made,  not  only  by  themselves,  but  by  many 
of  their  friends,-  Fellows  of  Trinity  College.  It  is  most  gratifying  to  record  such 
kindness;  and  encouraging  to  those  who  may  desire  to  consult  the  well-cared  for  yet 
available  Literary  Treasures  in  the  Public  Libraries  of  that  University.  While  thus 
briefly  alluding  to  these  Treasures,  we  desire  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  Historical 
Inquirer  to  the  almost  unknown  sources  of  information  for  the  elucidation  of  one 
of  the  most  eventful  periods  of  English  History,  which  are  now  pent  up  in  the 
cupboards  of  Corpus  Christi  College.  We  allude  to  the  mass  of  Original  Letters 
illustrative  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  this  country  during  the  reigns  of 
Henry  VIII.,  Edward  VI.,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth,  forming  the  collection  bequeathed 
to  the  College  by  Archbishop  Parker;  and  of  which  a  mere  List  was  made  by 
Nasmith,  and  published  at  Cambridge  in  a  quarto  volume  in  1777. 

We  are  quite  aware  that  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the  stringent  rules  framed 
by  the  founder  for  the  protection  of  the  Library,  preclude  anything  more  than  an 
ordinary  examination  of  these  Manuscripts,  and  are  such  as  almost  to  debar  the 
zealous  historian  from  attempting  to  gain  information  from  them.  The  feeling,  that, 
when  examining  them,  you  are  occupying  the  time  of  two  of  the  Fellows  of  the 
College,  who  are  bound  by  the  rules  to  be  present,  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  deter 
research.2  We  hope  the  pleasure  of  making  known  the  more  interesting  contents 
of  that  marvellous  depository  of  the  Autographic  Memorials  of  the  Great  Theo- 
logians of  England,  will  fall  to  the  task  of  some  zealous  Fellow  of  Corpus  Christi 
College,  as  he  then  will  revel  in  his  pursuit  undisturbed  by  any  of  those  feelings 
generated  by  the  restraints  which  are  very  properly,  however  much  we  may  regret 
and  dislike  them,  placed  upon  the  more  than  ordinary  inspection  of  the  MSS.  The 
future  Cambridge  Historical  Society  will  deserve  the  thanks  of  the  Historian  by 
fully  recording  the  contents  of  those  Treasures. 


1  Mr.  Clarke  was  then  officiating  as  Librarian, 
in  the  absence  of  the  Rev.  John  Glover,  to  whom 
subsequently  we  have  had  occasion  to  apply  for 
and  receive  information. 


•  The  penalty  attending  the  loss  of  a  specified 
number  of  these  MSS.,  viz.,  the  forfeiture  of  the 
whole  of  the  books  to  Gonville  and  CViu<  Col- 
lege, is  a  sufficient  justification  for  the   I 
observance  of  the  founder's  rules. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


VARIOUS    SPECIMENS    OF    THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 
BRITANNIA'S  PASTORALS  BY  w.  BROWNE.     1613-16.    FOLIO. 

ILLUSTRATED   WITH   MANUSCRIPT   NOTES. 


PLATE    XIV.      No.  I.      SPECIMENS  1  TO  13. 

HOSE  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  look  through  the  notes  in  the 
variorum  edition  of  the  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  collected  by 
the  Venerable  Archdeacon  Todd,  will  find,  more  particularly  in 
Comus,  Lycidas,  Samson  Agonistes,  and  Paradise  Regained, 
many  references  made  to  parallel  passages  and  metaphors  to  be 
_  met  with  in  BROWNE'S  PASTORALS,  as  well  as  in  the  works  of  Du 
Bartas,  Fletcher,  Sylvester,  Wither,  and  many  others,  of  that  class 
of  poets  whose  tastes  were  of  a  character  similar  and  congenial  to  those  of  Milton. 
HALLAM,J  one  of  the  most  learned,  truthful,  and  deeply  read  Historians  this 
country  has  produced,  closes  his  remarks  on  the  poetical  genius  of  Milton  by 
observing  that  "he  ivas  a  great  collector  of  sweets  from  those  wild  floiuers." 

The  copy  of  the  PASTORALS  of  BROWNE,  which  we  here  notice,  was  sold  a  few 
years  ago,  in  Fleet-street,  by  public  auction;  and  it  was,  at  the  time,  stated  to  be 
illustrated  with  marginal  notes  in  the  autograph  of  Milton.  That  volume  is  now 
before  us.  On  the  fly-leaf  occurs  the  autograph  signature  and  subjoined  note  by 
W.  FORD,  a  well  known  bookseller  of  Manchester  during  the  early  part  of  this 
century.  He  states  that 

"  The  whole  of  the  MS.  notes  are  entirely  in  the  Autograph  of  the  celebrated  John  Milton,  the 
author  of  Paradise  Lost,  &c.  ;  and  on  reference  it  will  be  found  that  he  had  taken  portions  of  this 


1  Having  been  permitted  to  witness  the  con- 
signment of  the  mortal  remains  of  that  most 
popular  and  pleasing  HISTORIAN,  the  Right 
Honourable  Thomas  Babington,  Lord  Macau- 
lay,  among  those  of  England's  Intellectual 
Heroes,  in  that  much  cherished  spot,  "  THE 
POETS'  CORNER,"  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY,  we  could 
not  but  lament  the  absence  of  any  monument  to 
the  HISTORIAN  HALLAJI,  a  man  whose  works  are 
most  highly  appreciated  by  those  who  read 
history  for  the  information  it  conveys. 

While  Macaulay  will  be  read  by  the  mass  of 


society  for  the  general  view  he  gives  of  English 
History,  and  the  fascination  of  his  style  ;  Hallam 
will  be  consulted  for  the  soundness  of  his  views, 
and  the  philosophical  development,  without 
any  party  bias,  of  the  historical  facts  he  has  to 
record. 

Since  penning  the  above,  we  rejoice  to  have 
had  the  opportunity  of  adding  our  mite  towards 
a  proposed  Monument  to  the  Memory  of  the  late 
Historian,  to  be  placed  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
side  by  side  with  those  of  the  departed  learned 
men  of  England. 


13 


98 


RAMBLLNGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


work  as  his  model  for  his  Paradise  Regained.  On  comparison  with  some  of  his  MSS.  still  existing,  I 
find  such  to  be  the  case ;  and  which  has  been  discovered  by  some  former  proprietor,  who  has  written 
in  pencil  on  the  top  of  page  2  of  the  work,  'All  the  notes  are  written  Inj  Milton  the  Poet.'  The  volume 
was  formerly  sold  in  London,  by  a  distant  descendant  of  Milton,  by  the  late  Mr.  Christie,  and  after- 
wards went  to  Liverpool ;  and  ultimately  I  obtained  the  same  from  a  friend  who  purchased  the  same 
there.  It  has  been  rebound  since.  It  was  in  the  calf  binding.'  M.  F." 

The  success  that  has  of  late  years  attended  the  "  profession"  of  the  Forger  of 
Literary  and  Antiquarian  Relics,  both  abroad  and  at  home,  has  had  the  effect  of 
making  the  most  learned  and  acute  in  such  matters  occasionally  sceptical  as  to  the 
genuineness  of  that  of  which  they  would  not  otherwise  have  entertained  a  doubt.  But 
it  is  still  more  astonishing  that  such  learned  men  should  permit,  as  they  sometimes 
do,  a  prejudice  to  arise  in  their  minds  upon  a  subject  to  which  they  have  not 
previously  devoted  their  serious  attention,  and  which  they  condemn,  either  openly, 
or  by  a  very  significant  shake  of  their  heads ;  while  others,  less  bold,  decline  to 
venture  an  opinion  until  they  have  discovered  what  may  be  the  prevailing  views 
of  their  fellow  critics. 

When  the  copy  of  the  Pastorals  was  about  to  be  sold,  there  arose,  as  very 
frequently  is  the  case,- and  sometimes,  we  fear,  unfairly,- a  doubt  as  to  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  notes.  Some  said  the  volume  'did  not  bear  the  actual  autograph 
signature  of  the  Poet,'-' there  was  no  proof,'-' no  note  of  any  contemporary  affirming 
that  the  writing  was  by  his  friend  John  Milton.'  In  fact,  the  volume  was  pooh- 
poohed.  Not  so,  however,  by  everybody. 

There  was  one  WILLIAM  PICKERING,  the  late  lamented  bookseller,  whose  keen 
eye  caused  him  to  dissent  from  the  general  condemnation  of  the  notes;  but  yet 
somewhat  diffident,  after  bidding  many  pounds  for  the  volume,  he  allowed  it  to  pass 
into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Waller,  the  well-known  and  industrious  dealer  in  Autograph 
Letters  and  Manuscripts.  At  our  request,  Mr.  Waller  immediately  forwarded2  the 
volume  to  us.  On  returning  it,  we  advised  that  it  should  be  taken  at  once  to  be 
compared  with  the  writing  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript.  That,  however,  was 
not  done;  and  the  volume  consequently  remained  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Patrick, 
who  had  purchased  it  from  Mr.  Waller,  subject  to  an  unfavourable  impression. 


1  Mr.  Ford  should  have  left  the  volume  as  it 
was.  The  binder  employed  by  him  has,  in 
several  instances,  cut  into  the  marginal  notes : 
sou  fac-similes,  Nos.  11  and  13. 

1  We  were  at  that  period  confined  to  our  house 
by  illness.  We  had  sent,  however,  a  commission 
to  buy  the  book,  being  primarily  quite  satisfied 
with  the  attestation  of  Mr.  Ford.  Our  commis- 
sion arrived  too  late ;  the  book  having  been  sold. 
It  was  either  worth  nothing  more  than  a  few 


shillings,  the  usual  value  of  a  copy  of  the  work ;  or, 
as  having  Annotations  in  the  autograph  of  Mil- 
ton, far  more  than  forty  pound*,  which  had  been 
given  for  the  copy  of  Aralus  now  in  the  British 
Museum.  That  volume,  beyond  a  very  few  mar- 
ginal references,  has  only  on  its  title-page  the 
autograph  signature  of  the  Poet,  as  seen  in  plate 
XIV.,  No.  II. 

Forty  pounds  for  tJie  Autograph  Signature  of 
Milton ! 

Fifteen  pounds  for  tJte  entire  copyright  of'Para- 
di*e  Lost !" 


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THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  99 


When  we  came  to  examine  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  we  were  so  forcibly 
reminded  of  the  peculiar  and  general  character  of  the  notes  in  the  Pastorals,  that 
we  again  sought  an  inspection  of  the  volume,  which  was  immediately,  through  the 
intervention  of  that  indefatigable  bookseller,  Mr.  Lilly,  placed  in  our  hands  by  the 
widow  of  the  late  Mr.  Patrick.  So  confident  are  we  of  the  whole  of  the  marginal 
observations  being  in  the  autograph  of  Milton,  that  we  do  not  think  it  necessary  to 
refer  to  any  of  those  minutice  in  the  handwriting,  with  the  view  of  substantiating 
that  opinion.  While  selecting  the  thirteen  specimens  from  the  notes,  as  given  in 
this  plate  XIV.,  we  afford  the  reader  the  opportunity  of  judging  for  himself  on 
the  genuineness  of  the  Autograph ;  and  we  have  no  doubt  his  verdict  will  be  given 
in  its  favour.  There  is,  however,  one  special  point  in  confirmation  of  our  views, 
which  we  desire  to  note,  namely,  that  the  same  occasionally  imperfect  and  frequently 
quaint  orthography  found  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  occurs  also  in  the 
marginal  notes  to  the  Pastorals.  It  may  be  interesting  also  to  notice  that  the 
Greek  e,  as  constantly  used  by  Milton  at  one  time,  but  very  rarely  after  his  return 
from  Italy  in  1639,  is  adopted  in  all  instances  throughout  the-notes  in  the  Pastorals. 
Those  to  whom  a  comparison  in  the  change  of  handwriting  at  different  periods  is 
interesting,  will,  on  carefully  going  through  the  pages  of  fac-similes  from  the  Trinity 
College  Manuscript,  have  great  difficulty  in  discovering  a  single  instance  of  the  use 
of  the  Greek  e  in  any  of  the  writing  before  the  date  of  1639;  but  to  come  to  any 
decision  as  to  the  date  of  the  autograph  of  Milton  from  that  circumstance,  would 
be  very  fallacious,  as  in  the  marginal  notes  in  the  copy  of  Euripides  belonging  to 
Sir  Henry  Halford,  commenced  in  1634,  the  plain  e  and  the  Greek  e  frequently  occur 
in  the  same  word. 

As  a  passing  observation,  we  note  that  the  frequent  writing  of  Greek  Letters 
may  have  caused  Milton  to  adopt  the  round  hand  more  generally  than  the  cursive ; 
the  former  exhibiting  the  letters  written  apart,  as  in  the  Greek  Language. 


E  now  proceed  to  quote  the  parallel  passages  to  which  the  fac-similes 
and  notes  refer. 

"A  simile  of  a  Dove  beset  with  2  hawks  and  a  ship  with  contrary 
winds."  Milton. 

"As  when  to   seeke  her  foode   abroad   doth  roue 
The  Nundus  of  peace,   the   seely   Doue, 
Two   sharpe   set  hawkes  doe  her  on  each   side  hem, 
And   shee   knowes  not  which  way  to   flye  from  them : 
Or  like   a  shippe   that  tossed  to  and  fro 
With  winde   and  tyde ;    the  winde   doth  sternely  blow, 
And   driues  her  to  the  Maine,   the   tyde   comes   sore 
And  hurles  her  backe   againe  towards  the   shore."     Pastorals,  Book  I.,  p.  6. 


100  RAMBLIXGS    IX    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


"They  who  drinke  of  Lethe  never  think  of  love  or  if  world."  Milton. 

"  O    Charon,   I   am  bound 

More  to   thy   kindenesse,   then   all   else,   that  round 
Come  thronging   to   thy   Boate :    thou   hast  past  ouer 
The   woful'st  Maide   that   ere   these   shades   did  couer : 
But   prithee    Ferriman    direct   my    Spright 
Where  that  blacke   Riuer  runnes  that  Lethe  hight, 
That   I   of  it    (as   other   Ghosts)    may   drinke, 
And  neuer  of  the  world,   or  Loue,   more  thinke."  Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  7. 

"A  handsome  Sheepheard  as  ivell  in  mind  as  in  body."  Milton. 

"Pemoml,   young  Remand,   that  full  well   could   sing, 
And   tune   his   pipe    at   Paws-birth   carolling: 
Who   for  his  nimble   leaping,   sweetest  layes, 
A   Lawrell   garland   wore   on   Holi-dayes ; 
In  framing  of  whose  hand   Dame   Nature   swore 
There  neuer  was  his  like,   nor  should   be   more."  Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  13. 

"The  miserys  of  those  yl  marry  for  beauty!'  Milton. 

"  Shee   is  not   lou'd,   that's  lou'd  not  for  her   selfe. 
How  many   Shepheards   daughters,   who   in   dutie, 
To   griping  fathers   haue   inthral'd  their  beautie, 
To  waite  vpon  the   Gout,   to  walke  when  pleases 
Olde   January   halt.     O   that   diseases 
Should  linke  with  youth !     She   that  hath   such   a   mate 
Is  like   two  twinnes   borne   both   incorporate  : 
Th'  one  lining,   th'  other   dead  :    the  liuing   twinne 
Must  needes   be   slaine  through   noysomnesse   of  him 
He   carryeth   with   him :    such  are   their   estates, 
Who  meerely  marry  wealth   and   not  their  mates."  Pastorals, B.I. , p. 34-35. 

"Att  are  born  to  love."  Milton. 

"  Beleene  me,   Maiden,   vow  no   chastitie : 
For  maidens  but  imperfect   creatures   be."  Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  30. 

"Against  love."  Milton. 

"  Loue  is   a   Syren  that   doth   shipwracke   youth."  Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  36. 

"Mans  life  compar'd  to  a  river."  Milton. 

"As  men  from   earth,   to   earth;    from   sea  to   sea 
So   Riuers   runne :    and  that  from  whence   both   came 
Takes  what  she   gaue :    Waues,   Earth :    but   leaues   a  name. 
As  waters  haue  their  course,   and  in   their  place 
Succeeding   streames  well   out,   so   is   mans   race  : 
The  Name   doth   still   suruiue,   and   cannot   die, 
Vntill  the   Channels  stop,  or   Spring   grow   dry."  Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  38. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON. 


101 


"A  character  of  a  lad  poet." 

"And   as   some   ruder    Swaine   composing   ryme, 
Spends  many  a  gray   Goose   quill  vnto  the   handle, 
Buries   within   his   socket   many   a   Candle ; 
Blots   Paper  by   the   quire,    and   dryes  vp   Incke, 
As  Xerxes  Armie  did  whole  Riuers  drinke, 
Hoping  thereby  his  name  his  worke   should  raise 
That  it  should  liue  vntill  the   last  of  dayes." 

"A  steep  high  mountain." 

"A   mountaine   had   his   foote,    and   gan   to   rise 
In   stately   height   to   parlee   with   the   Skies." 

"True  grief  will  admit  of  no  comforter" 

"  Toy   may  haue   company,   but    Griefe   hath   none : 
Where   pleasure   neuer  came,   sports   cannot  please." 


Milton. 


Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  39. 
Milton. 

Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  47. 
Milton. 

Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  51. 


"  One  so  sweet,  y*  bees  mistaken,  gather  honey  from  her  instead  offloivers."       Milton. 


"  Enriching   then   the   arbour   downe   she   sate   her ; 
Where   many   a   busie   Bee   came   flying   at   her : 
Thinking   when   she   for   ayre   her   brests   discloses, 
That  there  had   growne   some  tnft  of  Damaske-Eoses." 


Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  64. 


"  One  grievously  opprest  &  entreating  pitty  from  whence  pretty  fancy  is  rais'd." 

Milton. 
"  With   plaints   which   might   abate   a   Tyrants   knife ; 

She  begges  for  pardon,   and   entreates  for  life, 

The   hollow   caues   resound   her   meanings   neere   it, 

That   heart   was   flint   which   did   not   grieue   to   heare   it : 

The   high   topt   Firres   which   on   that   mountaine   keepe, 

Haue   euer  since  that  time  been   seene  to  weepe."  Pastorals,  B.  I.,  pp.  66-7. 


"A  pretty  thing." 

"  So  from  the  mines   of  this  mangled   Creature 
Arose    so   faire   and   so   diuine   a   feature, 
That   Enuy   for   her   heart   would  doate   vpon   her ; 
Heauen   could   not   chuse   but   be   enamour'd   on   her : 
Were   I   a   Starre,   and   she   a  second   SpJieare, 
Ide  leaue  the   other,   and  be   fixed  there." 


Milton. 


Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  67. 


"Truth  slighted  ofy°  nobility,  by  reason  of  adulation." 

"  Seeking   the   place   of  Charities  resort, 
Vnware   I   hapned   on   a   Princes    Court ; 
Where   meeting   G-reatnesse,   I   requir'd   reliefe, 
(0   happy   vndelayed)    she   said   in   briefe, 
To   small   efiect  thine   oratorie  tends, 
How   can   I  Iceepe   thee   and  so   inanij  friends  ? 


Milton. 


102 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


If  of  my  houshold   I   should   make   thee   one, 
Farewell   my  seruant  Adulation." 

"Men  strive  to  get  fair  M"" 

"  So   whilome  rode  this   Maide 
On   streames  of  worldly  blisse,   more  rich   arrayd, 
With   Earths   delight,   then   thought   could  put  in   vre, 
To   glut  the   sences   of  an   Epicure. 
Whilst   neighbring   Kings   vpon  their  frontires   stood, 
And  offer'd  for  her  dowre   huge   Seas   of  blood." 

"A  beautiful  vergin  undressing  her  sdf." 

"And  as   a  louely   Mayden,   pure   and   chaste, 
With  naked   lu'rie  necke,   and   gowne   vnlac'd, 
Within  her  chamber,   when   the   day   is   fled, 
Makes   poor  her  garments  to   enrich  her  bed : 
First,   puts   she    off  her  lilly-silken    gowne, 
That  shrikes  for   sorrow  as   she   layes   it   downe ; 
And  with  her  armes   graceth   a  Wast-coate   fine, 
Imbracing  her  as  it  would  ne'er  vntwine." 

"Great  men  have  not  such  rest  as  clowns." 

"  Not  with   disturbed  thoughts ;    the  beds   of  Kings 
Are   neuer  prest  by  them,   sweet  rest  inrings 
The  tyred  body  of  the  swarty  clowne, 
And  oftener  lies  on  flocks  then  softest  downe." 

"Poor  labour  to  feed  y°  luxury  oftf  ricJi." 

"  There  should  they   see   another   that   commands 
His   Farmers   Teame  from  furrowing  his   lands, 
To  bring  him  stones  to   raise   his   building  vast, 
The  while  his   Tenants   sowing  time  is  past." 


Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  76. 
Milton. 


Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  89. 


Milton. 


Pastorals,  B.  I.,  p.  106. 
Milton. 

Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  22. 

Milton. 

Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  22. 

Milton. 


"Poetts  live  for  ever." 

"It   was   inacted  here,   in  after  dayes 

What  wights   should  haue  their  temples   crown'd  with   Hayes. 
Learn'd  Ariosio,   holy  Petrarchs  quill, 
And   Tasso  should  ascend  the  Muses  hill."  Pastorals,  B 

"The  excellency  of  the  english  poetts." 

"  There  will   she   Anchor  cast,   to  heare  the  songs 
Of  English   Shepheards,   whose   all   tunefull  tongues 
So  pleas'd  the   Nayades,   they   did  report 
Their  songs  perfection  in  great  Nereus   Court." 


II.,  p.  25. 
Milton. 


"Spencer." 
"And   Colin  Clout  began  to  tune  his  quill." 


Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  26. 

Milton. 
Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  26. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON.  103 


"  Venus  mourning  over  Adonis  when  he  was  dead."  Milton. 

"Venus   by   Adonis   side 
Crying   kist,   and   kissing   cryde, 
Wrung   her   hands   and   tore   her   hayre 
For  Adonis   dying   there."  Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  32. 

"  Good  Poetts  are  envied  yet  in  spite  of  envy  get  immortatt  prayse."     Milton. 

"  Yet  to   this   Lad  not  wanted  Enuies   sting, 
('  Hee's   not   worth   ought,   that's   not   worth   enuying.') 
Since   many  a,t  his  praise   were   seene  to   grutch. 
For  as   a   Miller  in   his   boulting   hutch 
Driues   out   the   pure   meale   neerly,    (as   he   can) 
And   in   his   sifter  leaues   the   courser   bran : 
So   doth   the   canker  of  a  Poets  name 
Let  slip   such   lines  as  might  inherit  Fame."  Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  33. 

"Sir  Philip  sidney,-Draiton,-Johnson,-Daniell,~- 

Brook,-Daveis,  &  Wither."  Milton. 

Milton  here  only  notes  the  names  of  the  several  poets  of  whom  Browne  sings 
in  high  praise  in  the  verses  opposite  thereto. 

"  Very  beautifutt."  Milton. 

"  His  armes   a  crosse,   his   sheep-hooke  lay  beside  him : 
Had   Veniis  pass'd  this  way,   and  chanc'd  t'haue   spide  him, 
With  open  brest,   lockes   on  his   shoulders   spred, 
She  would  haue   sworne    (had   she  not   seene  him   dead ;) 
It  was   Adonis ;    or   if  e're   there   was 
Held   transmigration   by   Pith  agorae, 
Of  soules,   that   certaine   then,   her  lost-loues   spirit 
A  fairer  body  neuer  could  inherit."  Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  46. 

These  lines  remind  us  of  a  romantic  but  not  authenticated  anecdote  often  told 
of  Milton,1  "as  having  formed  the  first  impulse  of  his  journey  to  Italy,  and  as  the 
parent,  too,  of  some  of  his  Poetry." 

"  It  is  well  known  that,  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  and  when  he  pursued  his  studies  at  Cambridge, 
this  poet  [Milton]  was  extremely  beautiful.  Wandering  one  day,  during  the  summer,  far  beyond 
the  precincts  of  the  University,  into  the  country,  he  became  so  heated  and  fatigued,  that,  reclining 
himself  at  the  foot  of  a  tree  to  rest,  he  shortly  fell  asleep.  Before  he  awoke,  two  ladies,  who  were 
foreigners,  passed  by  in  a  carriage.  Agreeably  astonished  at  the  loveliness  of  his  appearance,  they 
alighted,  and  having  admired  him,  as  they  thought,  unperceived,  for  some  time,  the  youngest,  who 
was  very  handsome,  drew  a  pencil  from  her  pocket,  and  having  written  some  lines  upon  a  piece  of 
paper,  put  it  with  her  trembling  hand  into  his  own.  Immediately  afterwards  they  proceeded  on  their 
journey.  Some  of  his  acquaintance,  who  were  in  search  of  him,  had  observed  this  silent  adventure, 
but  at  too  great  a  distance  to  discover  that  the  highly-favoured  party  in  it  was  our  illustrious  bard. 

1  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  by  Tocld.     4to.  edition,  1842.     Vol.  i.,  p.  19. 


104 


RAMBLING  S    IN   THE    ELUCIDATION   OP 


Approaching  nearer,  they  saw  their  friend,  to  whom,  being  awakened,  they  mentioned  what  had 
happened.    Milton  opened  the  paper,  and,  with  surprise,  read  these  verses  from  Guarini,  Mutlfii/nl  xii., 

ed.  1598: 

"  '  Occhi,  stelle  mortali, 
Ministre  de  miei  mali, 
Se  chiusi  m'  uecidete, 
Aperte  che  farete  ?'  " 

"Too  much  of  one  thing  is  good  for  nothing."  Milton. 

"  There's  no   one   season   such  delight  can   bring, 
As   Summer,   Autumne,    Winter,   and  the   Spring. 
Nor  the  best  Flowre   that   doth  on   earth  appeare 
Could  by   it   selfe   content  vs   all   the  yeare. 
The  Salmons,   and   some  more  as  well   as  they, 
Now   loue   the   freshet,   and  then  lone   the   Sea."         Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  77. 

"Nothing  but  vertue  sha\U\  obtain  ye  praises  of  his  [muse"]  Milton. 

"  My   free-borne   J/wse   will   not  like  Danae   be 
Wonne   with   base   drosse   to   clip  with   slauery ; 
Nor  lend   her  choiser  Balme  to  worthlesse   men, 
Whose    names   would   dye   but   for   some   hired   pen ; 
No :    if  I   praise   Vertue   shall   draw  me   to   it, 
And  not   a   base   procurement  make   me   doe   it."        Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  89. 

"  He  delights  in  study  more  y*  earthly  enioyments."  Milton. 

"  In   this   can   I   as   oft  as   I  will   chuse 
Hug   sweet   content  by  my  retyred   Muse, 
And  in  a  study  finde   as  much   to  please 
As   others   in   the   greatest  Pallaces."  Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  89. 

"  Vertue  is  y  only  nobility."  Milton. 

"Not  from  Nobilitie   doth   Vertue  spring, 
But   Vertue  makes  fit  Nobles  for  a  King. 
From   highest   nests   are   croaking   Rauens    borne 
When  sweetest  Nightingales  sit  in   the   Thome."  Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  91. 

"Life  and  De"th."  Milton. 

"  Death   seuers   many,   but  he   couples  few. 
Life  is  a  Flood  that  keepes  vs  from  our  blisse, 
The  Ferriman  to  waft  vs  thither,   is 
Death,   and  none  else ;    the   sooner  we   get  o're 
Should  we   not  thanke   the   Ferriman  the   more  "i"    Pastorals,  B.  II.,  p.  131. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON. 


105 


AEATI  PHENOMENA.    1559,  4to.    WITH  MANUSCRIPT  NOTES. 

No.  II.     SPECIMENS  1  TO  9. 

ilROM  the  title-page  and  margins  of  a  copy  of  the  "Phenomena"  and 
"Diosemeia"  of  Aratus.  Paris  edition,  1559,  4to.  The  main  interest 
of  the  volume  consists  of  its  bearing  irrefragable  proof  of  having 
belonged  to  the  Poet.  It  has  also  numerous  manuscript  notes  in  the 
autograph  of  JOHN  UPTON,  the  learned  editor  of  Epictetus;  from  whose 
possession  it  appears  to  have  passed  into  that  of  James  Bindley,  an  eminent 
collector  and  amateur  antiquarian,  at  the  sale  of  whose  library,  in  1818,  the  volume 
was  sold  for  £8  8s.  Part  I.,  No.  540.  Passing  afterwards  into  the  Heber  Library, 
it  was,  at  the  sale  of  the  sixth  portion  of  his  collection  in  1835,  again  sold,  producing 
£4  19s.;  and  subsequently  in  1850,  into  the  library  of  the  late  John  Poynder,  Esq., 
when  it  was  purchased  for  the  British  Museum  for  £40  10s. 

Subjoined  is  an  enumeration  of  the  pages  in  which  the  notes  occur,  whence 
the  fac  -similes  were  taken. 


No. 

1.  John  Milton.     Price  and  date.     Fly-leaf  be- 

fore title. 

2.  On  title  at  each  side  of  vignette. 

3.  Page  1,  1.    5  of  text ;  line    5  of  Phsenomena. 

4.  „  11, 1.  12      „          „     74  „        „ 

5.  „  14, 1.    5       „          „  100 
5*  ,    1.  12  „  107 


No. 


5**  P.  14, 1.  17  of  text;  line  112of  Phenomena. 
6.      „  15, 1.    5      „  „     124 


7. 


„  17, 1.    8 

„  38, 1.    1 


9.      „  52, 1.    7 


144 
326 
330 

475 


LYCIDAS,   WITH    MANUSCRIPT    NOTES. 

No.  in.    SPECIMENS  1  TO  5. 

OEEECTIONS  of  the  text  in  the  British  Museum  copy  of  the  "Obse- 
quies to  the  Memorie  of  Mr.  Edward  King,"  wherein  this  celebrated 
Monodie  was  first  published.  The  corrections  occur  in  the  lines  aa 
noted  below. 


No.  1.  Line  10,  "he A knew" 

2.  „     51,  "your  lord  Lycidas" 

3.  „     67,  "as  others  doe" 

4.  „  157,  "under  the  humming  tide" 


Corrected, 


"Awell." 
"  Lov'd." 
"  use." 
"  whelming." 


5.  After  line  176,  "  in  the  blest  kingdom  of  Joy  and  Love"  inserted. 


14 


106 

RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 

ALBUM    OF    CAMILLUS    CARDOYN. 

NO.  rv. 

|ffil"]**j*fj|ERE  is  a  complimentary  inscription  with  the  signature  of  Milton.writtcn 

I  ^Skri     m  June  1  639,  when  at  Geneva,  in  the  ALBUM  of  CAMILLUS  CARDOYX, 

JB§T  *1     a  Neapolitan  Nobleman  residing  at  Geneva,  from  1608 

to  1640.     It 

pUSrL'j     contains  complimentary  Inscriptions,  Verses,  etc.,  in  Hebrew,  Grcrk, 

Latin,  German,  French,  and  English,  by  some  of  the  most 

distinguished 

Authors  and  Literary  Men  of  the   period.      The  following  eminent 

Englishmen 

contributed  inscriptions  to  the  volume  : 

JOHN  MILTON         .         .         .      Junii  10,  1639 

Hen.  Fitzwalter 

.     n.  d. 

Thomas  Went  worth,  the  unfortunate  Lord 

L.  Rose          .... 

.    1613 

Sb-afford         .         .         .         ...     1612 

Thos.  Wilson 

.    1637 

William  Marshall            ....     1614 

Will.  Paget 

.    1631 

Edw.  Ironside         n.  d. 

Will.  Spencer 

.     1633 

Lord  George  Berkeley   .         .         .              n.  d. 

Ric.  Holt 

.     1637 

Sir  Ant.  Weldon            ....     1638 

Gef.  Nightingale    . 

.     1640 

Robt.  Harley          1619 

W.  Ducy 

.     1639 

Sir  Ric.  Baker,  author  of  the  "  Chronicle 

Jas.  Croft       .... 

.     1631 

of  England"            .        .         .       '.     1640 

Jas.  Zouche 

.     1606 

John  Junius,  a  Scotch  Scliolar         .             1610 

Edw.  Boneam 

.     1635 

John  Smythe,  probably  Sir  John    .         .     n.  d. 

G.  Turnbull 

.     1631 

Edmund  Gybbon             ....     1634 

Thomas  Tirrett      . 

.     1640 

Henry  Butler         1638 

James  Hamilton     . 

.     1639 

Thomas  KUligrew,  the  Dramatist     .         .     1638 

Richard  D'Ewes     . 

.     1639 

Edw.  Ayscongh      1639 

W.  Bishop     . 

.     1620 

Edm.  Batty   n.  d. 

Edw.  Ayscu 

.     1615 

Ric.  Griffiths,  of  Hereford      .         .         .     1616 

Jas.  Bromel 

.     1614 

Walter  Strickland,  of  Yorkshire     .         .     1634 

Thos.  Gurry 

.     1608 

Roger  Knight         .         .         .         .              n.  d. 

Hen.  Paulett 

.     n.  d. 

Griff.  Maddock,  Welchman     .         .         .     1608 

Humf.  Tufton 

.     n.  d. 

W.  Wingfield         n.  d. 

John  Rons     .... 

.     n.  d. 

W.  Armyn     .         .         .         .         .              n.  d. 

John  Cooke 

.     n.  d. 

W.  Crayford           n.  d. 

W.  Gresley 

.     1631 

Edw.  Wray    n.  d. 

J.  Dormer      .... 

.     1636 

Thos.  Hungerford           ....     1626 

J.  Amber       .... 

.     1614 

Josue  Hixton          .....     1635 

J.  Tracy 

.     1638 

Octavius  Pullen     1635 

T.  Whitaker 

.     1640 

W.  Bagot      1631 

D.  Bougeton 

.     1639 

James  Hodgson     1633 

H.  Bludder    . 

.     1628 

Gilbert  Pykeringe           .                  .         .     1634 

J.  Sntton        .... 

.     1630 

Sir  And.  Knyverton,  Bt.         .         .         .     1637 

S.  Thomson 

.     1640 

Sir  F.  Fane            1633 

G.  Courthop 

.     1638 

Spencer  Compton           ....     1618 

R.  Hampden 

.     n.  d. 

Thomas  Warton     1610 

Hen.  Winwood 

.     1637 

The  date  at  the  foot  of  the  inscription  by  Milton  is  not  in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet. 

THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON. 


107 


j]HIS  very  interesting  Autographic  Memorial  of  distinguished  Men  of  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  was  obtained  at  Geneva  in  1834,  for  a  few 
shillings,  by  the  son  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Sydney,  the  Right  Reverend 
George  Broughton.1  It  was  sold  in  Wellington-street,  February  19, 
1835,  by  auction,  to  the  late  eminent  bookbinder,  Charles  Herring,  for 
25l.  4s.  It  subsequently  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  then  leviathan  bookseller, 
Thomas  Thorpe ;  and  is  now  the  property  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Sumner  of  America. 
A  notice  of  the  volume  appeared  in  the  "Boston  Daily  Evening  Transcript"  for 
January  25th,  1860,  stating  that  the  Reverend  Gentleman  had  recently  obtained  it 
in  Europe.  We  do  not  know  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  fac-simile  of  that 
portion  bearing  the  autograph  of  Milton.  It  was  received  by  post,  accompanied  by 
the  notice  referred  to ;  a  notice  merely  reiterating  the  names  of  some  of  the  more 
distinguished  persons  whose  writing  appears  in  it. 

To  the  contributor,  therefore,  to  our  "  Ramblings,"  we  here  take  the  opportunity 
of  offering  our  thanks.  A  voyage  to  America2  would  have  been  a  most  delightful 
addition  to  our  Pursuits,  in  the  anticipation  of  discovering  in  our  search  some 
Milton  Manuscripts  that  may  have  found  their  resting  place  in  the  "Far  West;" 
either  from  having  survived  the  wholesale  destruction,  at  the  time  of  the  Restoration, 
of  many  of  the  Official  Documents  of  that  period ;  or  from  having  been  subsequently 
dispersed  in  consequence  of  the  barbarously  careless  manner  in  which  those  that  had 
been  preserved  were  examined  by  the  State  Authorities  on  their  removal  from  the 
cellars  of  Somerset  House,  the  store  rooms  in  the  Dock  Yard  at  Deptford,  and,  no 
doubt,  many  other  places.  It  may  be  asked,  what  has  become  of  the  State  Papers 
that  were  many  years  ago  at  Dover  1  Were  they  entrusted  to  some  high  and 
mightily  ignorant  official,  who  would  have  preferred  seeing  them  cast  over  the  pier, 
or  made  a  bonfire  of,  to  soiling  his  delicate  fingers  by  the  accumulated  dust  of  two 
centuries  ?  Certain  it  is  that  many  of  those  that  were  in  the  store  rooms  in  Dept- 
ford, were  taken  so  little  care  of,  that  there  is  scarcely  a  collection  of  Autograph 
Letters  and  Documents  of  the  Period  in  this  country,  that  does  not  abound  in  State 
Papers  purloined  from  that  source.  The  catalogues  of  the  sales  of  manuscripts  by 
auction  during  the  last  twenty  years,  confirm  what  is  here  stated. 

When,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Members  of  the  Archaeological  Society  of  London 


1  It  was  in  1834,  when  we  met  the  late  Bishop 
of  Sydney  and  his  son  at  the  house  of  our 
mutual  friend,  Mr.  Pulham,  the  enthusiastic  col- 
lector of  the  works  of  George  Wither,  the  Boy 
shewed  to  us  the  treasure  he  had  procured  ;  and 
as  his  Father  thought  he  would  rather  have  a 
silver  watch  than  the  volume,  we  put  it  into  our 
pocket,  and  within  a  few  weeks  had  the  gratifi- 


cation of  handing  to  him  something  more  than 
would  buy  him  the  object  desired. 

8  If  we  mistake  not,  it  would  be  the  first 
instance  of  an  Englishman  travelling  Far  West 
in  search  of  long  lost  historical  information 
relating  to  England. 

142 


108 


RAMBLINGS    IN   THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


and  Middlesex  being  permitted,  the  year  before  last,  to  visit  the  Interior  of  the 
Tower  of  London,  we  saw  in  one  of  the  upper  chambers  thousands  of  documents, 
centuries  old,  put  in  sacks  like  so  many  potatoes,  with  their  mouths  open  to  shew 
the  quality  of  the  contents,  while  hundreds  were  lying  loose  upon  the  ground,  as 
the  debris  of  the  Archives,  which  were  then  being  removed  to  their  new  destination. 
We  were  so  perfectly  astonished  at  what  we  saw,  that  we  fear  the  very  interesting 
account  of  the  Chamber  orally  given  by  the  Reverend  Antiquary,  Thomas  Hugo,  was 
entirely  lost  upon  us.  We  could  not  help  looking  at  some  of  the  scattered  debris ; 
and  we  doubt  not  but  that,  had  we  been  permitted  an  hour's  recreation  there,  we 
should  have  soon  met  with  documents  bearing  the  autograph  signatures  of  the 
prominent  Statesmen  of  the  early  reigns  of  this  country.  We  saw,  however,  enough 
to  convince  us,  that,  whatever  may  have  been  the  cause  of  the  then  appearance  of 
the  Archives  of  the  Tower,  or  whatever  they  were,  their  previous  keeping  could  not 
have  been  such  as  we  had  a  right  to  expect  from  the  salaried  Officers  of  the  State. 
Certain  it  is,  that  there  would  not  have  been  the  least  difficulty  in  any  person,  had 
he  been  so  inclined,  filling  his  pockets  with  those  documents;  and  that  the  eyes 
of  a  dozen  detectives  could  not  have  discovered  the  depredations  that  might  have 
been  committed  behind  the  pillars,  and  in  the  dark  recesses  of  that  chamber. 


EURIPIDIS  TRAGCEDLE,  GR.  ET  LAT.    BECKII.     2  TOM.,  1602.     4to. 

WITH   MANUSCRIPT   ANNOTATIONS. 
PLATE    XV.       SPECIMENS   1   TO  30. 

1HESE  specimens  are  taken  from  the  margins  of  the  oft-quoted1  copy  in 
Paul  Stephens's  edition  of  Euripides.  They  are  all  in  the  autograph 
of  Milton. 

There  is  a  peculiar  charm  in  the  possession  of  a  volume  bearing 
autographic  record  of  having  passed  through  the  hands  of  a  man 
whose  name  alone  always  imparts  an  interest  to  everything  connected  with  it.  The 
mere  autograph  signature,  and  the  date  of  its  possession,  are  most  interesting;  but 
doubly  interesting  is  the  association,  when  every  page  of  it  bears  the  impress  of  the 


1  "  The  [copy  of]  Euripides  was  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Francis  Hare,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  on 
whose  death,  in  1740,  it  became  the  property  of 
John  Whiston,  a  bookseller.  From  him  it  was 
bought  by  Dr.  Birch  in  1754 ;  after  whose  death 
it  became  the  property  of  Joseph  Cradock,  Esq., 
of  Gnmly  in  Leicestershire.  When  Dr.  Johnson 
wrote  his  life  of  Milton,  in  1779,  the  book,  by  Mr. 


'  Cradock's  kindness,'  was  [placed]  in  his  hands. 
'  The  margin,'  he  says,  '  is  sometimes  noted  ; 
but  I  have  found  nothing  remarkable.'  Barnes, 
however,  had  previously  used  it  for  his  edition 
of  Euripides ;  and  Richard  Paul  Joddrell,  in  his 
'Illustrations  of  Euripides,'  in  1781,  adopts  one 
or  two  of  the  manuscript  readings,  and  accuses 
Barnes  of  having  availed  himself  of  the  book 


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THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON. 


109 


hand  that  has  transferred  on  many  of  them  explications  of  remarkable  passages 
that  have  attracted  the  particular  notice  of  the  reader.  Added  to  all  this,  its 
interest  is  enhanced  when  such  a  volume  has  a  satisfactory  pedigree,  and  is  beyond 
the  carping  of  those  who  are  always  ready  to  exhibit  their  unmistakable  feelings 
when  envying  its  possession. 

On  reading  the  particulars  relating  to  the  volume  from  the  pen  of  the  learned 
Masson,  as  quoted  in  the  note  in  the  preceding  page,  we  immediately  addressed  the 
present  Sir  Henry  Halford,  and  had  the  gratification  of  receiving  an  answer  stating 
that  the  book  should  be  brought  to  London  for  our  examination.  Severe  illness 
prevented  our  having  the  pleasure  of  visiting  Sir  Henry  Halford  to  inspect  the 
volume.  He,  however,  most  confidingly  allowed  our  clever  artist,  Mr.  G.  J.  F.  Tupper, 
to  follow  the  minute  instructions  we  had  given  him;  the  result  of  which  has  been 
the  plate  containing  the  thirty  fac-simile  specimens  of  the  marginal  notes  in  the 
Autograph  of  the  Poet. 

SPECIMEN  1. 

The  signature,  price,  and  date,  1634,  occur  on  the  recto  of  the  fly-leaf  preceding 
the  title-page  of  vol.  i.  The  price  has  been  erased. 

SPECIMEN  1*. 

The  name  of  Milton  repeated,  with  the  price,  12s.  6d.,  as  was  originally 
written  by  Milton.  This  subsignature  is  not  in  the  Autograph  of  the  Poet.  We 
believe  it  to  be  in  the  same  autograph  as  appears  in  the  second  portion  of  the  "  De 
Doctrind  Christiand,"  of  which  numerous  fac-similes  are  given  in  subsequent  plates. 
The  "  D.  S."  at  the  corner  are  no  doubt  the  autograph  initials  of  DANIEL  SKINNER, 
into  whose  hands  the  volume  may  have  passed  at  the  death  of  Milton,  though, 
without  more  satisfactory  evidence,  such  an  opinion  must  be  considered  conjectural; 
but  there  may  be  circumstances  equally  interesting,  such  as  in  the  present  case, 
connecting  the  signature  of  Milton  under  the  original,  and  the  "  D.  S."  with  the 
autograph  of  the  posthumous  work  of  Milton,  his  much  laboured  and  very  learned 
Treatise  on  the  Christian  Doctrine. 

Following  the  subsignature  is  the  subjoined  note  in  the  autograph  of  the 
learned  Historian  BIRCH  : 

"  Liber  hie  olim  fait  celeberrimi  Johannis  Miltoni,  cujus  nomen  ab  ipso  supra-scriptum  est, 
notseq.  passim  margini  additse.  Ex  Bibliotheca  Francisci  Hare,  Episcopi  Cisestrensis  transivit  in 
officinam  Librarian!  Johannis  Whistoni,  a  quo  emebam  die  12°  Aprilis  1754.  THOS.  BIKCH." 

SPECIMENS  2  TO  30. 
These  shew  the  character  of  the  writing  of  the  marginal  notes.     They  enable  us 


without  acknowledgment.  By  Mr.  Cradock,  the 
book  was  bequeathed  to  the  late  Sir  Henry  Hal- 
ford  ;  and  beyond  this  point  I  have  not  traced 


it."— "Life  of  Milton,"  by  Masson,  vol.  i.,  1859, 
p.  531  note. 


110 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


to  appreciate  at  its  full  value  the  pedantry  of  persons  founding  their  judgment  of  an 
autograph  upon  the  formation  of  any  particular  letters. 

Subjoined  are  the  references  to  the  pages  from  which  the  notes  have  been  taken : 


No. 


VOL.  I. 

2.  At  foot  of  List  of  Tragedies. 

3.  Page  27.    Hecuba  .        .        line  283 

4.  „    29.          „       .        .        .  „    306 

5.  „    31.          „       .  „    326 

6.  „  266.     Orestes  .        .          „  1686 

7.  „  314.     PhcenissiB       .        .  „    527 

8.  „  405.     Medea.        Latin  version,  line  53 

9.  ,,484.          „       .        .        .  „  1201 

10.  „  525.     Hippolytus      .      Latin,     „    329 

11.  „  552.  ,    657 


12. 
13. 

J-"     • 

14. 


VOL.  H. 

„  *13.     Supplices 
11     15.          ,i 

30. 


„  208 

,,  243 

„  245 

Latin,     "  530 


15.  Page  31. 

16.  42. 


17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 


„  69. 
„  US. 
„  122. 
„  163. 
„  175. 
„  207. 
„  232. 
„  329. 


„  442. 
„  486. 
„  584. 
„  608. 


30.       „  685. 


Supplices        .      Latin,  line  554 
line  754  et  seq.,  correcting  Dram. 
Personse  of  Dialogue. 
Iphigenia  in  Aulide         line       6 
„        „     Lat.     „      69 
»        »  11  1036 

„   Tauris  „    189 

11       11  n    423 

„  „  Lat.  ,,1040 
Rhesus.  First  5  of  Lat.  version 
Troades  .  .  line  817 

Cyclops          .  „      49 

.  202 

Heraclidae       .         .  ,,821 

Helena  .         .  „  1145 

.        .          ,,1606 
Ion         ...          „  1360 


lYCOPHKON.  To  our  most  indefatigable  correspondent,  Mr.  Needham 
of  Kimbolton,  we  are  indebted  for  the  subjoined  information  respecting 
another  very  interesting  existing  relic  from  the  library  of  the  Poet. 

"  It  is  said  that  the  Earl  of  Charlemont  is  in  possession  of  the  copy 
of  LYCOPHRON  which  formerly  belonged  to  Milton,  and  bears  his  auto- 
graph. The  volume  may  be  considered  as  a  companion  to  the  Euripides  of 
Sir  Henry  Halford.  Some  time  ago  I  made  some  inquiries  as  to  the  Lycophron,  but 
was  not  fortunate  enough  to  meet  with  any  reply  to  my  letter.  On  looking  at  the 
latest  Peerage  which  I  possess,  that  for  1857, 1  find  that  Lord  Charlemont  was  then 
eighty-two  years  of  age,  and  that  his  heir  presumptive,  his  brother,  was  only  four 
years  younger.  This  may  explain  the  omission  to  reply  to  my  letter.  I  have  more 
recently  pursued  my  inquiries ;  and  if  they  lead  to  anything  satisfactory,  you  shall 
hear  of  it. 

"  In  reference  to  Lycophron,  the  following  passage  may  be  interesting  to  you. 
I  transcribe  it  from  the  Life  of  William  Pitt  by  the  late  Lord  Macaulay.  This  Life 
first  appeared  in  the  recent  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  and  has  just 
been  reprinted  in  a  volume  of '  Biographies'  by  Lord  Macaulay.  Edinburgh,  A.  &  C. 
Black,  1860,  pp.  144." 


*  Printed  31  erroneously. 


THE   AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON.  Ill 


"  He  [William  Pitt]  had  set  his  heart  on  being  intimately  acquainted  with  all  the  extant  poetry 
of  Greece,  and  was  not  satisfied  till  he  had  mastered  Lycophron's  Cassandra,  the  most  obscure  work 
in  the  whole  range  of  ancient  literature.  This  strange  rhapsody,  the  difficulties  of  which  have 
perplexed  and  repelled  many  excellent  scholars,  'he  read,'  says  his  preceptor,  'with  an  ease,  at  first 
sight,  which,  if  I  had  not  witnessed  it,  I  should  have  thought  beyond  the  compass  of  human  intellect.' " 

The  volume  was,  in  1809,  entrusted  to  Mr.  Meen,  when   preparing   a   new 
edition  of  Lycophron  for  the  press. 


MEL    HELICONIUM,    BY    ROSSE.     1646,  Svo. 
PLATE    XVI.    No.  I. 

j]N  Octave  Stanza  from  the  fly-leaf  of  what  we  believe  to  have  been  a 
presentation  copy  to  Milton,  by  ALEXANDER  ROSSE,  of  his  "Mel  Heli- 
conium,  or  Poeticatt  Honey  gathered  out  of  the  Weeds  of  Parnassus." 
It  is  a  small  octavo  volume,  and  was  first  published  in  1642.  Some 
copies,  afterwards  issued,  have  the  year  1643,  and  others  1646,- the  last 
figure  in  the  date  having  been  altered,  as  in  the  copy  here  referred  to ;  a  practice 
frequently  adopted  by  the  publishers  in  those  days,  when  books  lingered  in  their 
sale  for  several  years. 

Alexander  Rosse  was  Chaplain  to  King  Charles  I. ;  and  Henry  Lawes,  a  most 
intimate  friend  of  Milton,  was  at  the  same  period  "  Gentleman  of  the  King's  Chappel 
and  one  of  His  Majesties  Private  Musick."  By  Lawes,  the  "  SONGS"  of  Milton  were 
"set  to  musick,"  as  stated  in  the  title-page  to  the  first  edition  of  the  Poems  of  Milton 
issued  in  1645.  We  have  no  other  evidence  to  show  that  Milton  was  personally 
intimate  with  Rosse  ;  but,  inasmuch  as  the  latter  must  have  been  well  known  to 
Henry  Lawes,  we  may  fairly  presume  it  not  to  have  been  unlikely  that  an  inter- 
change of  literary  civility  took  place  between  them  by  the  mutual  Gift  of  the  works 
of  the  two  authors  through  the  introduction  of  their  common  friend  Lawes.  The 
probability  is,  that  the  fly  leaf  of  the  copy  of  the  Mel  Hdiconium,  now  wanting, 
contained  an  autograph  inscription  from  the  author  to  Milton,  still  existing,  perhaps, 
in  the  portfolio  of  some  Collector  of  Autograph  Memorials. 

The  inscription  to  A.  Rosse  and  the  verses  occur  on  the  blank  reverse  of  the 
leaf  following  the  dedication.  The  two  lines  as  subjoined  to  the  initials  in  our 
fac-simile  are  from  the  lower  margin  of  page  5,  referring  to  the  line  therein  : 

"Dote  not  on  beauty;  beauty's  but  a  flower" 

Words  more  painfully  and  yet  more  forcibly  attractive  to  the  mind  of  Milton 
could  hardly  have  been  penned.  He  had  in  1643  married  a  very  beautiful  woman, 
who  soon  after  deserted  him.  It  was  not  until  July  1645  that  she  returned,  a 


RAMBLINGS    IN  THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


reconciliation  having  been  brought  about,  as  it  were,  by  stratagem.  Her  beauty 
contributed  not  to  his  happiness. 

The  AUTOGRAPH  of  Milton  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  extending  over 
forty  pages  and  written  at  intervals  from  1630  to  1646  or  even  later,  exhibits 
throughout  the  same  peculiar  character.  It  is  written  in  what  may  be  styled,  the 
ordinary  home  hand  of  the  Poet,  without  much  care,  sometimes  in  a  larger  and 
sometimes  in  a  smaller  hand  than  usual,  arising  from  the  circumstances  under  which 
the  pen  was  called  into  operation,  and  oftentimes  depending  upon  the  quality  of  the 
pen  itself. 

The  inscription  and  verses  taken  from  the  blank  page  of  the  "  Mel  Heliconium" 
exhibit  the  ordinary  hand  of  Milton,  but,  under  very  unusual  circumstances.  The 
paper  on  which  they  are  written  is  of  a  remarkably  hard  and  coarse  texture,  and  the 
hand  is  for  want  of  space  naturally  cramped,  and  the  Pen  was  much  finer  and  harder 
than  that  he  was  accustomed  to  use.  Had  Milton  employed  his  ordinary  larger 
hand,  he  would  not  have  been  enabled  to  get  in  more  than  half  of  the  words  into  the 
one  line  as  desired.  Consequently,  in  thus  cramping  his  hand,  using  evidently  a 
finer  pen  and  writing  on  a  hard  paper,  peculiarly  rough,  the  autograph,  owing  to 
the  impression  of  the  text  on  the  other  side  not  having  been  pressed  out,  assumes  a 
more  delicate  appearance.  Milton  was  necessitated  to  use  more  than  ordinary  care 
in  his  writing.  Though  we  had  not  studied  the  autograph  of  Milton  when  we  first 
became  acquainted  with  the  volume,  we  never  entertained  any  doubt  of  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  writing.  True  it  is,  that  the  initials,  "  J.  M.,"  differ  from  those  which 
we  should  at  first  sight,  and  without  the  smallest  hesitation,  pronounce  as  the  auto- 
graph of  the  Poet;  yet  we  look  upon  that  as  of  very  little  importance.  It  is 
pedantry  to  assert,  that  because  a  letter  or  two  differs  from  those  usually  employed, 
the  same  cannot  be  in  the  autograph  of  the  party  to  whom  it  is  assigned.  We 
cannot  produce  a  better  example  of  the  fallacy  of  drawing  such  conclusions,  than  by 
referring  to  the  very  differently  formed  "  J.  M."  in  plate  VII.,  attached  to  the  Sonnet 
of  the  Poet  addressed  to  his  friend  Henry  Lawes,  bearing  date  1645.  Again,  in 
plate  XVIL,  see  the  ornamented  M  in  the  third  line  of  that  very  carefully  written 
poem  inscribed  to  Dr.  Rous;  and  then  look  at  the  ordinary  M  in  the  word  Metra 
at  the  close  of  the  sixth  line  of  the  second  specimen  in  the  same  plate.  See  also 
the  M  in  the  first  line  of  the  third  Stanza  of.  Arcades,  plate  I.;  and  another,  of  quite 
a  different  form,  in  the  word  Monodie  in  the  heading  of  Lycidas,  plate  III. ;  so 
also  in  the  word  Moses,  plate  IV. 

The  volume  was  sold  a  few  years  ago  at  a  public  sale,  and  again  in  1858,  when 
it  was  purchased  by  Wilh'am  Tite,  Esq.,  M.P.,  in  whose  very  fine  collection  of 
interesting  printed  books  and  manuscripts  it  is  now  preserved. 


I .. 


XVI 


/ 

ii  I 


-•m 


flU- 


jLv  covW«et  7 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


113 


PETITION  OF  JOHN  MILTON.     1650. 

NOS.    II.    AND    III. 

|  HE  "  COMPOSITION  PAPERS"  preserved  in  the  State  Paper  Office  form 
a  series  of  most  valuable  records.  They  contain  many  documents 
relating  to  the  Milton  Family.  On  the  margin  of  that  of  the  "Petition 
of  John  Milton"-"  To  the  Honourable  the  Commissioners  for  Seques- 
tration at  Haberdashers'  Hall,"  occurs  an  attestation  in  the  Auto- 
graph of  the  Poet,  as  given  in  specimen  II.,  the  signature  following  being  that  affixed 
to  the  Petition. 

ALBUM   OF  CHRISTOPHER  ARNOLD. 


1651. 


No.  IV. 


|N  the  Manuscript  Department  of  the  British  Museum  is  preserved  the 
"ALBUM  AMICORUM  of  CHRISTOPHER  ARNOLD,  Professor  of  History  at 
Nuremberg."  It  contains  Autograph  Inscriptions  collected  in  Ger- 
many and  the  Low  Countries,  and  also  in  England,  during  the  years 
1649-1672;  including  a  sentence  in  Greek  signed  by  the  Poet  Milton, 

"  JOANNES  MILTONIUS,"  and  dated  "London,  19th  November,  1651." 

The  volume,  so  states  the  British  Museum  "  Threepenny  Guide,"  was  "  pur- 
chased, in  1850,  out  of  the  Bridgwater  Fund,"  from  the  late  Mr.  Asher,  the  well- 
known  bookseller  at  Berlin.  Among  the  more  distinguished  Englishmen  who 
contributed  their  autographic  memorials  to  the  volume  of  their  learned  friend, 
Professor  Arnold,  were  Archbishop  Usher,  John  Selden,  Sir  William  Petty,  Jeremy 
Collier,  and  many  others. 

MANUSCRIPT    POEM    TO  DR.  JOHN   ROUS.     1647. 

PLATE  XVII. 

the  BODLEIAN  LIBRARY,  Oxford,  are  two  volumes  of  very  considerable 
interest,  exhibiting  specimens  of  the  Autograph  of  the  Poet,  written  in 
a  style  not  usually  adopted  by  him  in  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  his  life. 
One  of  these  is  a  presentation  copy  to  JOHN  Rous1  of  the  First 
Edition  of  the  Poems  of  Milton,  accompanied  with  an  appropriate 
poem  in  Latin  to  Dr.  Rous,  in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet ;  being,  it  is  said,  the  last2 


1  "Joiix  ROUSE,  or  RUSSE,  Master  of  Arts, 
Fellow  of  Oriel  College,  Oxford,  was  elected 
chief  librarian  of  the  Bodleian,  May  9,  1G20. 
He  died  in  April  1652,  and  was  buried  in  the 
chapel  of  his  college.  He  succeeded  to  Thomas 


James,  the  first  that  held  this  office  from  the 
foundation." — "Milton's  Poems,"  by  Warton, 
note,  pp.  562-3. 

2  "  In  the  beginning  of  the  following  year, 


15 


114 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


Latin  poem  composed  by  him.  It  was  first  published  in  the  second  edition  of  the 
Poems,  1673,  and  is  there  dated  "  Jan.  23,  1646."  The  other  volume  comprises  a 
collection  of  the  Prose  Tracts  by  Milton,  with  an  autograph  inscription  to  Dr.  Rous, 
to  whom  they  were  also  presented  by  the  author. 

There  are  and  have  been  at  all  times  many  whose  delight,  while  pursuing  their 
literary,  scientific,  and  other  studies,  is  to  record  in  their  Common-Place  Books  what 
is  either  of  interest  to  themselves,  or  what  they  consider  may  be  equally  so  to  their 
descendants ;  adopting  most  frequently  a  much  more  careful  and  uniform  style  of 
writing  than  what  they  are  accustomed  to  use  in  their  ordinary  avocations.  With 
others,  their  writing  never  varies  in  style ;  the  only  difference  being,  that  it  becomes 
more  feeble  or  irregular  at  the  decline  of  life. 

The  fac-similes1  in  plate  XVII.  give  a  most  faithful  representation  of  a  portion 
of  the  Latin  Poem,  from  the  Autograph  of  Milton,  affixed  to  the  presentation  copy 
of  the  first  edition  of  his  Poems  in  1645.  If  we  can  judge  by  what  is  here  repre- 
sented, Milton  must  have  been  well  skilled  in  the  use  of  the  beautiful  "Secretary 
Hand"  then  practised ;  a  hand  much  resembling  the  style  of  the  Italian  semi-cursive 
text,  as  seen  more  particularly  in  the  writing  of  the  prose  part  at  the  close  of  the 
poem.  That  Milton  bestowed  considerable  pains  in  the  transcript  of  this  Latin 
Poem,  is  evident,  though  at  the  same  time  it  is  clear  that  his  hand  had  then  become 
feeble.  It  is  remarkable,  that,  in  this  specimen  of  the  autograph  of  Milton,  all  the 
&'s,  fs,  and  ^'s,  are  looped;  many  of  them  having  been  filled  in  during  the  process 
of  writing,  while  others  shew  that  they  had  been  afterwards  carefully  filled  in. 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  here  to  introduce  to  the  notice  of  the  reader  the 
writing  of  the  Renowned  Youth,  PRINCE  HENKY,  the  eldest  son  of  James  I.;  to 
whose  Memory  as  a  most  accomplished  Prince,  the  Poets  of  England  assembled  on 
Mount  Parnassus  to  pour  forth  their  strains,  and  with  their  unanimous  song  pro- 
claimed the  virtues  and  talents  of  their  departed  Prince  to  all  parts  of  the,  world. 

In  the  Library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  are  preserved  the  Copy  Books 
used  by  the  Prince  while  learning  the  Art  of  Penmanship,- an  accomplishment 
considered  at  that  period  as  most  essential  in  the  education  of  the  higher  classes. 
In  those  Copy  Books  are  beautiful  specimens  of  the  Handwriting  of  the  Prince,  of 
which  we  here  give  several  in  fac-simile,  executed  by  the  processes  of  the  Electro- 


January  23,  1646-7,  Milton  wrote  his  last  Latin 
poem,  the  irregular  ode  sent  to  John  Rouse,  the 
Keeper  of  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford,  in  a 
copy  of  his  poems." — "Life  of  Milton"  by 
Keightley,  p.  42. 

1  Dr.  Symmons,  in  his  life  of  the  Poet,  pp. 
275-82,  refers  to  the  volume,  accompanying  his 
remarks  by  what  he  calls  in  his  preface,  p.  24, 
"  a,  most  curious  fac-simile  of  Milton's  handvrit- 


hi/j,"  with  which  he  is  enabled  to  gratify  the 
curiosity  of  his  readers,  through  the  kindness  of 
the  Reverend  M.  Matthews,  Fellow  of  Jesus 
College,  Oxford.  The  plate  gives  the  inscrip- 
tion and  the  first  "Stroplm."  The  only  apology 
we  can  make  for  such  an  »//'»//>/  sit.  ;i  /</<•- 
simile,  is  that  we  presume  the  Reverend  Ama- 
teur Artist  was  not  permitted  to  make  a  tracing 
of  it,  but  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with 
having  the  writing  placed  before  him. 


te  ^^J 

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115 
A  O.  c  ct  e-fA  a  i.K.L  m  n  p  -p  a  v  tf.t  *f  (•  ru  u  ' w  x  \-  z,  .&.'  / 

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A,     f  *****  *  *   */  /  f  f'f  f-t  g  ££  b  kbobtiffs  l>  bo 
_-/  •-  « 

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J  "  J          ,-r 

>  •      •  T  f- 

ttrurmn  litemnnn.  saentuitn  wuecutus.  t,ftmni  fJc  iT&nrutn  c%pu> 
J  &   i 


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L/£>eus  omnipotens  tvtp  mi  hi  '  vecwrc 
0  110  d  '  <uorr  mernffris  t>0piill 


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JrL<t.  JIUE  sir  ate  -, 


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152 


11(5 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


Printing-Block  Company.  Their  introduction  into  the  present  work,  is  intended 
to  shew  a  very  remarkable  similarity  in  the  Italian  style  of  the  writing  then  taught, 
to  that  used  by  the  Poet  Milton  in  the  Poem  inscribed  to  his  friend  John  Eous. 

In  comparing  the  writing,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  Poet,  when  using  a 
style  of  handwriting  of  which  he  had  made  himself  master  when  a  boy,  was,  at  the 
period  of  inditing  the  poem,  nearly  forty  years  of  age,  while  Prince  Henry  was  a 
mere  boy.  In  the  formation  of  the  letters,  the  first  specimen  shews  that  the  Tyro 
was  taught  to  elongate  and  thicken  their  commencement  and  ending,  as  in  the 
letters yi  I,  s,  and  p.  It  is  further  seen,  that  in  all  the  specimens  given,  that  plan 
has  been  used  by  the  youthful  Prince.  On  reference  now  to  the  fac-similes  in  the 
plate  under  notice,  of  the  Autograph  of  Milton,  the  same  peculiar  character  in  the 
formation  of  the  letters  is  exhibited.  The  comparison  is  most  interesting;  and  we 
very  much  question  whether  the  most  practised  Palseologist  would,- had  the  writing 
of  the  first  two  lines  of  the  second  specimen  in  plate  XVII.  been  intermixed  with 
the  large  writing  of  Prince  Henry ,-been  able  to  distinguish  the  one  from  the  other. 
The  same  peculiarity  in  the  formation  of  the  letters  exists  in  the  autograph  of  many 
of  the  most  eminent  men  of  that  period.  The  writing  of  the  POET  TASSO  exhibits 
the  same  character.  We  desire,  however,  here  to  observe,  that,  while  there  may  be 
a  remarkable  similarity  in  handwriting,  there  will  generally  exist  some  peculiarity  in 
it,  by  which,  on  careful  study,  we  are  able  to  distinguish  the  one  from  the  other, 
though  the  most  careful  and  most  practised  will  sometimes  commit  mistakes. 

It  is  a  very  common  practice  for  persons  who  are  in  the  habit  of  recording 
matters  in  their  Common-Place  Books,  or  writing  on  the  margins  of  printed  books, 
to  occupy  themselves,  when  again  so  employed  thereon,  by  going  over  any  letters  or 
words  previously  written,  that  may  appear  defective,  or  not  quite  clear.  Conse- 
quently, in  such  an  occasional  use  of  the  pen,  extended  over  any  length  of  time,  the 
writing  would- a  hundred  to  one-puzzle  and  mislead  the  judgment  of  the  most 
learned  Palaeographist.  Even  the  writer  himself,  if  put  upon  his  oath  as  to  a 
document  being  in  his  autograph,  would  be  so  astonished  at  the  different  formation 
of  many  of  the  same  letters,  when  pointed  out  to  him  for  examination,  that,  by  a 
little  cross-questioning  and  subtle  argument,  he  might,  and  probably  would,  be 
led  to  doubt  its  being  so.1 

The  subject  of  Autography  in  its  various  phases,  by  the  same  hand,  is  one  of 
considerable  importance  to  the  student  in  palaeography.  A  work  specially  devoted 
to  that  branch  of  it,  accompanied  with  authenticated  fac-similcs  of  the  different 
styles  of  writing  used  by  the  same  persons,  is  a  great  desideratum.  The  mere 


1  In  our  "Bibliographical  Account  of  the  Works 
of  Hie  English  Poets,"  a  work  extending  over 
three  thousand  folio  pages,  chiefly  in  our  auto- 
graph during  the  last  thirty  years,  there  are 


several  hundred  pages  that  we  can  scarcely  be- 
lieve could  have  been  written  by  us.  They  are 
carefully  executed  in  a  round  hand,  a  style  very 
seldom  used  in  our  ordinary  avocations. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


117 


autographs  of  the  Kings  and  Queens  of  England  would  form  interesting  examples. 
Edward  VI.,  Queen  Elizabeth,  Charles  L,  and  many  others  of  an  earlier  and  later 
date,  varied  their  writing  at  different  periods  and  under  peculiar  circumstances. 
The  change  in  the  autograph  of  Charles  I.  is  a  remarkable  instance ;  while  that  of 
Charles  II.  always  exhibits  the  same  character. 

We  conclude  our  observations  connected  with  the  autograph  of  the  Ode,  by 
inserting  Cowper's  translation  of  it,  extracted  from  Pickering's  Aldine  Edition  of  the 
works  of  that  Poet.  Though  the  poem,  in  Latin,  is  to  be  found  among  the  collected 
poems  of  Milton  in  many  editions  of  his  works,  we  think  the  translation  of  it  by 
William  Cowper  may  not  be  here  out  of  place. 

"  On  a  lost  Volume  of  my  Poems,  which  he  desired  me  to  replace,  that  he 
might  add  them  to  my  other  Works  deposited  in  the  Library. 

"  This  Ode  is  rendered  without  rhyme,  that  it  might  more  adequately  represent  the  original, 
which,  as  Milton  himself  informs  us,  is  of  no  certain  measure.  It  may  possibly  for  this  reason  disap- 
point the  reader,  though  it  cost  the  writer  more  labour  than  the  translation  of  any  other  piece  in  the 
whole  collection. 

STEOPHE. 

"  My   twofold  book !    single  in   show, 

But   double  in   contents, 
Neat,    but   not   curiously   adorn'd, 

Which,    in   his    early   youth, 
A   poet  gave,   no  lofty  one  in  truth, 
Although   an  earnest  wooer  of  the   Muse — 
Say  while   in   cool  Ausonian  shades 

Or   British   wilds   he   roam'd, 
Striking   by   turns   his   native   lyre, 

By   turns   the    Daunian   lute, 
And  stepp'd  almost  in  air — 

ANTISTROPHE. 

"  Say,   little  book,   what  furtive   hand 
Thee   from  thy  fellow  books   convey'd, 
What  time,   at  the   repeated  suit 

Of  my   most   learned   friend, 
I   sent  thee  forth,   an  honour 'd  traveller, 
From   our   great   city  to  the   source   of  Thames, 

Cffirulean  Sire  ! 
Where   rise  the   fountains,   and   the  raptures   ring, 

Of  the   Aonian    Choir, 
Durable   as  yonder  spheres, 
And   through   the   endless  lapse   of  years 
Secure  to  be   admired  ? 

STROPHE  II. 

"  Now  what  god,   or   demigod, 
For  Britain's   ancient  genius   moved, 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


(If  our  afflicted  land 
Have   expiated  at  length  the   guilty  sloth 

Of  her   degenerate   sons) 
Shall   terminate   our  impious   feuds, 
And   discipline   with   hallow'd   voice   recall  ? 
Recall   the   Muses   too, 
Driven   from   their  ancient   seats 
In  Albion,   and   well   nigh   from   Albion's   shore, 
And  with  keen   Phosbean   shafts 
Piercing   the   unseemly   birds, 

Whose   talons   menace  us, 
Shall   drive   the  harpy  race   from   Helicon  afar  ? 

ANTISTROPHE. 

"  But  thon,   my  book,   though   thou  hast   stray'd, 

Whether   by    treachery   lost, 
Or  indolent  neglect,   thy  bearer's  fault, 

From   all  thy   kindred   books, 
To   some   dark   cell   or   cave   forlorn, 
Where   thou  endurest,   perhaps, 
The    chafing   of  some   hard   untutor'd   hand, 

Be   comforted — 
For  lo  !    again  the   splendid   hope   appears 

That  thou  mayst  yet  escape 
The   gulfs   of  Lethe,   and   on   oary  wings 
Mount  to  the   everlasting   courts   of  Jove ! 

STROPHE  III. 

"  Since   Rouse   desires   thee,   and   complains 
That,    though   by   promise    his, 
Thou  yet   appear'st   not   in   thy   place 
Among   the   literary   noble    stores 

Given   to   his   care, 

But,   absent,   leavest  his   numbers   incomplete. 
He,   therefore,   guardian   vigilant 
Of  that   unperishing   wealth, 
Calls   thee   to  the   interior  shrine,   his   charge, 
Where   he   intends   a  richer  treasure   far 
Than   Ion  kept    (Ion,   Erectheus'   son 
Illustrious,   of  the   fair   Creiisa  born) 
In  the  resplendent  temple   of  his   god, 
Tripods   of  gold,   and   Delphic   gifts   divine. 

ANTISTROPHE. 
"  Haste,   then,   to   the   pleasant   groves, 

The   Muses'   favourite   haunt ; 
Resume   thy   station  in  Apollo's   dome, 

Dearer  to  him 
Than   Delos,   or  the   fork'd   Parnassian   hill ! 

Exulting   go, 
Since   now   a   splendid   lot  is  also   thine, 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


119 


And   thou   art   sought   by   my   propitious   friend ; 

For   there   thou   shalt   be   read 

With   authors    of  exalted   note, 
The   ancient,   glorious  lights   of  Greece   and   Borne. 

EPODE. 

"Ye,   then,   my  works,  no   longer  vain, 

And   worthless    deem'd   by   me ! 
Whate'er  this   sterile   genius   has  -produced, 
Expect,   at  last,   the  rage   of  envy   spent, 

An  unmolested,  happy  home, 
Gift   of  kind    Hermes,    and   my   watchful   friend, 
Where    never   flippant   tongue   profane 

Shall    entrance   find, 
And   whence   the   coarse   unletter'd  multitude 

Shall   babble  far  remote. 
Perhaps   some    future    distant   age, 
Less    tinged   with   prejudice,    and   better   taught, 
Shall   furnish   minds    of  power 
To  judge   more   equally. 
Then,    malice    silenced   in   the   tomb, 
Cooler  heads   and   sounder  hearts, 
Thanks   to    Rouse,    if  aught   of  praise 
I   merit,   shall   with  candour  weigh  the   claim." 


the  volume  of  the  Polemical  and  other  Treatises  by  Milton,  during  the 
years  1641  to  1646  inclusive,  is  a  list  of  its  contents,  together  with  a 
complimentary  inscription,  in  the  autograph  of  Milton,  to  his  Friend, 
Dr.  John  Eous,  to  whom  it  was  sent.  In  respect  to  the  first  volume, 
Warton1  states,  that 

"  Milton,  at  Rouse's  request,  had  given  his  little  Volume  of  Poems,  printed  in  1G45,  to  the 
Bodleian  Library.  But  the  book  being  lost,  Rouse  requested  his  friend  Milton  to  send  another  copy. 
In  1G46,  another  copy  was  sent  by  the  Author,  neatly  but  plainly  bound,  munditie  nitens,  non  oporosn, 
in  which  this  ode  to  Rouse,  in  Milton's  own  handwriting,  on  one  sheet  of  paper,  is  inserted  between 
the  Latin  and  English  Poems." 

After  enumerating  the  contents  of  the  second  volume,  the  learned  Warton  adds : 

"About  the  year  1720,  these  two  volumes,  with  other  small  books,  were  hastily,  perhaps  con- 
temptuously, thrown  aside  as  duplicates,2  either  real  or  pretended ;  and  Mr.  Nathaniel  Crynes,  an 
esquire  beadle,  and  a  diligent  collector  of  scarce  English  books,  was  permitted,  on  the  promise  of 
some  future  valuable  bequests  to  the  library,  to  pick  out  of  the  heap  what  he  pleased.  But  he,  having 
luckily  many  more  grains  of  party  prejudice  than  of  taste,  could  not  think  anything  worth  having 
that  bore  the  name  of  the  Republican  Milton ;  and  therefore  these  two  curiosities,  which  would  be 


1  Milton's  Poems,  by  Warton,  note,  pp.  564-5. 

2  Here  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  expedi- 
ency of  not  delegating  such  a  power  as  that  of 


selecting  for  sale  the  Duplicate  Volumes  of  a 
Public,  or  indeed  any  Library,  without  their 
being  most  carefully  examined  by  a  competent 
person. 


120  BABBLINGS    IX    THE    ELUCIDATIOX    OF 


invaluable  in  a  modern  auction,  were  fortunately  suffered  to  remain  in  the  library,  and  were  soon 
afterwards  honourably  restored  to  their  original  places." 

The  subjoined  fac-simile,  another  remarkable  example  of  the  admirable  employ- 
ment of  the  invention  of  the  Electro-Printing-Block  Company,  in  the  same  page  with 
type,  gives  the  inscription  by  Milton  in  the  volume  containing  his  Polemical  Tracts,  to 
the  list  of  which  he  has  added  the  copy  of  his  Poems  as  having  been  separately  sent. 


THE    AUTOGBAPH    OF    MILTON.  121 


The  fac-similc  in  the  preceding  page  affords  a  good  specimen  of  the  ordinary 
round  hand  of  the  Poet;  and  it  may  be  observed,  not  as  anything  very  remarkable, 
that,  in  these  few  lines,  Milton  has  not  once  made  use  of  the  Greek  e ;  but  that  he 
has,  as  in  Italian  writing  is  frequently  the  case,  connected  the  loop  of  the  e  with  the 
succeeding  letter,-see  the  en  in  the  word  "  Oxonien"  in  the  second  line,-a  style  then 
more  frequently  used  in  Italy  than  in  England. 


TEINITY    COLLEGE    LIBEAEY,    DUBLIN. 

E  are  much  indebted  to  Mr.  Beedham  of  Kimbolton,  for  the  subjoined 
fac-simile  of  an  inscription  in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet,  affixed  to  a 
volume  in  Trinity  College  Library,  Dublin,  containing  a  presentation 
copy  of  his  treatise,  "  Of  Eeformation  touching  Church  Discipline  in 


England." 


J{  ci 


The  inscription  having  been  written  close  to  the  margin  on  the  right  hand  side, 
a  portion  of  it  has  been  "  barbarously  cut  away"  in  the  binding,  many  letters  at  the 
close  of  each  line  of  the  Inscription  are  consequently  wanting. 


16 


122 


RAMBLIXGS    IN"    THE    ELUCIDATION    OP 


LETTER    TO    CARLO    DATI.     1G47. 

IURING  the  progress  of  our  work,  \ve  have  given  seven  specimens  of 
fac-similes  executed  by  the  very  interesting  processes  of  the  Electro- 
Printing-Block  Company.  Subjoined  is  another  specimen,  comprising 
the  commencement  and  ending  of  an  autograph  letter  from  Milton  to 
his  dear  friend  Carlo  Dati,  dated  from  London,  1G47.  It  is 
admirable  example  of  the  ordinary  cursive  hand  of  the  Poet. 


an 


S-  (P- 


The  original  of  this  letter  was  sold  by  Mr.  Evans,  in  1833,  with  the  Collection 
of  Autograph  Letters  formed  by  John  Anderdon,  Esq.,  No.  369  in  the  second  day's 
sale.  It  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Pickering  for  £14.  The  lot  following,  370,  con- 
sisted of 

"Milton's  Family  Papers,  viz.,  Bond  for  the  sum  of  40L,  Richard  Hayley  to  John  Milton,  1674. 
Mary  Milton's  Release  to  Eliz.  Milton,  Widow  of  the  Poet,  and  receipt  of  100Z.  her  share  of  the  estate 
of  J.  Milton,  1674.  Anne  Milton's  Release,  1674.  Release  from  Abs.  and  Deborah  Clarke,  of  Dublin, 
to  the  same,  1675.  Agreement  for  the  lease  of  a  house  at  Namptwich,  Ric.  Mynshull  to  Eliz.  Mill  on, 
1680.  Bond  from  Eliz.  Milton  and  Sam.  Acton,  to  Randle  Timmis,  1713.  Lease  of  a  house  in 
Brindley,  Eliz.  Milton  to  John  Darlington,  1720.  Sale  of  the  Lease  of  a  house  in  Brindley,  J.  Dar- 
lington to  Eliz.  Milton,  1725.  Copy  of  the  Will  of  Eliz.  Milton,  1727." 

These  Documents  produced  only  £4,  and  were  also  purchased  by  Mr.  Pickering. 
It  may  be  well  here  to  note,  in  tracing  the  papers  from  one  collection  to  another, 
that,  at  the  sale  by  Mr.  Sotheby,  in  1  825,  of  the  Library  of  James  Boswell,  Esq.,  the 
second  son  of  the  Biographer  of  Johnson,  they  formed  two  lots,  viz., 

3125.  "  Office  Copy  of  the  Will  of  Elizabeth  Milton,  the  Poet's  Widow,  dated  August  27th,  Probate 
granted  10th  October,  1727  ;  by  which  her  death  in  that  year  is  established,  and  not  in  1729, 
as  erroneously  stated  by  Warton  and  others.  Five  other  Legal  Papers  relating  to  the 
Estate  of  Elizabeth  Milton  or  her  Husband  ;  two  of  them  with  her  signature." 

Purchased  by  Mr.  Thorpe  for  £20  :  9  :  6. 


E AMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


3126.  "  Three  Receipts  or  Releases  bearing  the  Signatures  of  the  Poet's  Daughters,  Anne  Milton, 
Mary  Milton,  and  Deborah  Clarke  and  her  Husband,  on  receiving  £100  each  from  their  Step 
Mother  Elizabeth  Milton,  as  their  Portion  of  the  Estate  of  their  Father.  One  of  the  attesting 
Witnesses  is  Richard  Milton ;  and  the  Money  is  to  be  vested  in  Rent  Charges  or  Annuities 
for  their  respective  benefit,  with  the  approbation  of  Christopher  Milton,  the  Poet's  brother, 
and  Richard  Powell,  their  maternal  Uncle."  Purchased  by  Hr.  Thoiyefor  £18  :  7  :  6. 

From  Mr.  Thorpe,  the  purchaser  of  both  lots,  they  were  probably  obtained  by 
Mr.  Auderdon.  It  may  be  curious  here  to  record  a  very  remarkable  circumstance, 
so  far  as  relates  to  their  estimated  value  at  different  times  and  under  different 
circumstances.  Mr.  Thorpe,  in  1 825,  purchases  the  Documents  for  £38:17:0.  They 
are  then  sold  to  Mr.  Anderdon  at,  no  doubt,  a  considerable  advance;  at  the  sale 
of  whose  collection,  in  1833,  the  Documents  produced  only  £4!  And  at  the 
same  sale,  an  autograph  letter  from  Milton  to  Carlo  Dati  was  sold  for  £l  4.  Both 
lots  were  then  purchased  by  Mr.  Pickering.  In  1835  the  Letter  and  the  Documents 
appear  in  a  Catalogue  of  his  Stock,  having  been  "  bound  in  olive  morocco,"  priced 
at  £63  !  They  are  now,  1860,  in  the  possession  of  John  Fitchett  Marsh,  Esq.,  who 
has  published  them,  with  other  interesting  "  Papers  connected  with  the  Affairs  of 
Milton  and  his  Family,"  forming  a  portion  of  the  first  volume  of  the  "Cheetham 
Miscellanies,"  printed  for  the  Cheetham  Society,  1851. 


124  THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


AUTOGEAPH     SIGNATUEES    OF     MILTON 

APPENDED   TO 

DOCUMENTS,   OR    IN    PRINTED    BOOKS. 


PLATE    XVIII.      No.  I. 
SPECIMEN  1. 

IGNATUBE,  as  Bachelor  of  Arts,  in  the  Graduation  Book  at  Christ 
College,  Cambridge,  dated  January  162f. 

SPECIMEN  2. 

In  the  fourth  portion  of  the  Bibliotheca  Heberiana,  sold  in 
December  1834,  occurred  a  volume,  of  which   the    subjoined 
description  appeared  in  the  sale  catalogue. 
"  1527.  Dante  1'  Amoroso  Convivio,  1529.     Rime  et  Prose  di  Giovanni  della  Casa,  1563.     Sonetti  di 

Benedetto  Varchi,  1555.     In  one  volume,  small  octavo. 

"  This  volume  belonged  to  Milton.  At  the  commencement  he  has  written  the  contents  of  the 
book,  and  on  the  first  page  of  the  Giovanni  della  Casa,  is  'Jo.  Milton,  pre.  Wd.  1629.'  The  corrections 
of  the  text,  and  the  marks  at  particular  passages,  many  of  which  are  imitated  in  his  poems,  shew  that 
he  had  read  the  Sonnets  of  Casa  with  great  attention  ;  and  at  the  end,  in  his  own  handwriting,  is 
'  Segue  un  altro  Sonetto  di  M.  Giovan.  della  Casa  che  si  trova  nell"  Editione  di  Venetia,  1623.'  " 

It  was  purchased  by  the  late  Mr.  Herring,  the  eminent  bookbinder,  for  £25  :  4 ; 
and,  through  the  kindness  of  its  present  proprietor,  Mr.  Arthur  Eoberts,  is,  -while- 
writing  these  lines,  before  us.  It  is  of  much  Miltonian  interest;  but,  like  many 
other  volumes,  is  not  correctly  described. 

The  last  two  works  bear  much  internal  evidence  of  having  been  read  by  the 
Poet.  On  the  title-page  of  the  "Rime  et  Prose,  etc.,  di  G.  della  Casa"  occurs  the 
autograph  signature  with  date,  etc.,  as  given  in  fac-simile  Specimen  2.  On  folios  2, 
5,  11,  20,  of  the  Detta  Casa,  and  pages  9,  181,  215,  216,  224,  278,  288,  of  the 
Sonnets  and  Eclogues  of  Varchi,  are  slight  marginal  corrections  or  elucidations  of 
the  text;  while  those  Sonnets,  in  either  of  the  works,  that  have  attracted  the 
attention  of  Milton,  are  marked  by  his  pen. 

The  two  works  were  subsequently  bound  by  their  next  possessor,  as  is  clear  by 
the  notes  on  the  margins  having  been  cut  when  under  the  hands  of  the  binder.  The 
"Amoroso  Convivio  di  Dante"  was  then  added,  the  then  possessor  writing,  in  a  very 
cursive  hand,  the  "contents  of  the  volume";  beneath  which  another  subsequent 
proprietor  has  noted,  "This  is  Milton's  handwriting ;  his  name  is  before  the  Rime" 


r 


i 


<^ « 


n 


u 

^  0(0 


-  4 

J°*  *  f\ 

A  l/l 

<x»      \  i! 


* 


t- 

3 


1 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON.  1 '2 5 

etc.  "This  book  once  belonged  to  Milton;  and  many  passages  from  Casa  and 
Varchi,  that  are  marked,  are  imitated  in  Milton's  poetical  performances."  The 
manuscript  note  and  manuscript  additional  Sonnet  on  folio  28  of  the  "Rime"  are  not 
in  the  autograph  of  Milton.  It  does  not  bear  the  smallest  similarity  to  any  writing 
that  we  have  as  yet  met  with,  which  could  be  assigned  to  the  hand  of  Milton.  The 
volume  appears  to  have  been  purchased  by  Mr.  Heber  in  "April  1809."  It  has 
inside  a  plate  with  the  arms  and  name  "Roberti  Smyth  Baronetti." 

SPECIMEN  3. 
Another  signature  from  the  Graduation  Book  at  Cambridge,  dated  July  1632. 

SPECIMEN  4. 
Autograph  Signature  from  the  title  of  a  copy  of  "  Heraclidis  Pontici,  etc.,  Alle- 


gorise  in  Homeri  Fabulas  de  Diis.  Gr.  etLat.  Gesnero  interprete.  4to. 

The  volume  is  in  the  Library  of  Lord  Rolle  at  Stevenstone.     For  the  tracing  of  the 

fac-simile,  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  John  Macray  of  the  Taylor  Institution,  Oxford. 

SPECIMEN  5. 

Autograph  Signature  to  a  receipt,  of  which  the  subjoined  is  a  copy  from  the 
original  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Ives,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  permission 
to  make  the  fac-simile. 

"  The  16th  day  of  fiebruary,  1649. 

"  Received  then  more  of  Robert  Waroupp  Esq.  one  of  the  ffeoffees  in  trust  of  Rodolph 
Waroupp  late  of  English  esq.  deceased  by  the  hands  of  John  Foster  the  summe  of  five  pounds 
of  lawf'ull  english  money  in  pt  of  payment  of  fifty  pounds  principall  debt  &  the  interest  due  by 
bonds  by  the  sayd  Rodolph  waroupp  &  others  unto  me  John  Milton  Esq.,  I  say  received  by 
mee. 

"JOHN   MILTON." 

SPECIMENS  6,  7,  8,  AND  9. 

jlHE  autograph  of  Milton  here  given,  presents  one  of  the  very  few 
existing  specimens,-  though  evidently  written  when  the  Poet  was 
almost  blind,-  of  that  peculiar  and  carefully  executed  round  hand 
as  exhibited  in  our  fac-similes,  plate  XVII.,  from  the  autograph  poem 
to  Dr.  Ecus.  One  remarkable  peculiarity  in  that  writing,  is  in  the 
formation  of  the  b,  I,  d,  and  other  ascending  letters,  which  have  long  and  curved 
tops,  sometimes  looped.  On  comparing  the  letter  Z  in  the  word  Milton  in  the 
signature  given,  with  the  same  letter  in  plate  XVII.,  the  like  peculiar  formation 
of  it  is  observable.  Here  the  letter  t  is  not  in  the  style  usually  found  in  the 
secretary's  hand  with  the  cross,  as  in  the  word  "  tot  idem"  in  the  first  line  of  the 
No.  II.  in  the  plate  referred  to.  The  t  is  made  with  the  ordinary  cross,  as  in  the 
poetical  portion  of  the  extract  from  the  poem,  as  given  plate  XVII. 


126 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


To  Mr.  Becdham1  of  Kimbolton  we  are  indebted  for  the  fac-simile  and  notice  of 
the  book  from  which  they  are  taken.  As  the  communication  from  that  gentleman 
is  an  abridgment  of  that  given  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Hunter2  some  years  since,  we 
think  it  due  to  the  latter  to  give  his  interesting  note  of  the  volume. 

"  There  exists  a  copy  of  Fitz-Herbert's  '  Natura  Breviitm,'  the  edition  of  1584,  in  the  title-page  of 
which  is  written,  in  Milton's  beautiful  handwriting, 

ljolies  Milton  me  possidtit.' 

And  on  a  fly-leaf  at  the  beginning,  in  the  same  hand, 

>"\f*j~^  t4- 
'  Det  Cristm  studiis  vela  secunda  meis.' 

But  this  is  not  all,  for  a  little  lower  on  the  same  page  we  find,  in  another  hand,  ' Det'  etc.,  as  before. 
We  can  hardly  doubt  that  this  was  written  by  the  father,  with  whose  handwriting  I  am  not  acquainted. 

"  It  is  remarkable  that  this  copy  of  Fitz-Herbert  appears  to  have  been  in  the  possession  of 
another  poet  of  the  time,  these  words  appearing  on  a  later  fly-leaf, '  John  Marston  owneth  this  book.' 

"  This  interesting  volume  is  still  in  its  original  binding  of  dark  brown  calf,  with  an  ornament 
impressed  in  the  centre.  The  handwriting  of  Milton  authenticates  itself;  but  the  volume  has  a  satis- 
factory pedigree.  In  1830  it  was  the  property  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Stedman,  son  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stedman, 
Vicar  of  St.  Chad's,  Shrewsbury,  to  whom  it  had  been  presented  as  a  curiosity  by  Joshua  Eddowes, 
a  bookseller  and  printer  of  that  town,  who  was  born  in  1724;  and  who  informed  Mr.  Stedman  that 
it  came  to  him  out  of  books  which  had  belonged  to  Mrs.  Milton,  the  poet's  widow,  who  died,  in  1727, 
at  Nantwich,  where  Mr.  Eddowes  had  relations  living  at  the  time  of  her  death." 

Indisputable  Pedigrees  of  Literary  Relics,  Antiquities,  and  Works  of  Art,  add 
much  to  their  value  and  interest.  We  recollect,  when,  many  years  ago,  visiting  the 
Collection  of  Egyptian  Antiquities  formed  by  the  very  remarkable  Traveller  and 
Amateur  Dealer,  the  late  Joseph  Sams3  of  Darlington,  we  were  shewn  what,  if 
genuine,  was  of  considerable  value.  The  enthusiastic  traveller  minutely  detailed  all 
the  circumstances  under  which  a  large  Scarabaeus  in  gold,  in  his  collection,  was 
discovered,  accompanying  them  with  his  own  asseverations  as  to  the  correctness  of 
all  he  stated.  His  amazement,  however,  was  very  great  on  our  strongly  recom- 
mending him  to  go  back  to  the  country  whence  the  object  came,  and  to  obtain  a 
satisfactory  document  as  to  the  truth  of  what  he  related.  The  Scarabseus  in  gold 
referred  to,  is,  we  believe,  considered  to  be  a  modern  fabrication. 


1  We  regret,  that,  at  page  110  the  name  of 
this  gentleman  should  have  been  erroneously 
spelt  .Needham.  So  likewise  in  respect  to  the 
name  of  the  Rev.  H.  A.  J.  Munro,  in  lieu  of 
Monro,  page  96. 

»  MILTON.    A  Sheaf  of  Gleanings  after  his 


Biographers  and  Annotators,  by  Joseph  Hunter. 
1850,  8vo.,  pp.  22-23. 

3  Mr.  Sams  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
men  in  his  day,  so  far  as  his  connexion  with  the 
Memorials  of  Ancient  Egypt. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


127 


DOCUMENTS    WITH    THE    SIGNATURE    OF    THE    POET 
AFTER  THE   DATE  OF  HIS    BLINDNESS. 


In   the  hands 
of  Moyes  Pitt. 


No.   II. 

HAT  Milton  continued  the  use  of  his  pen  after  he  had  become 
quite  blind,  is  evident  from  the  remarkable  statement  of  Aubrey, 
who  has  recorded, 

"  I  heard  that  after  he  was  blind,  that  he  was  writing  in  the  heads  [of] 
a  [Latin]  Dictionary.1  Vidua  affirmat.  She  gave  all  his 
papers  (among  which  this  Dictionary  imperfect)  to  his 
nephew,  that  he  brought  up." 

In  alluding  to  the  "  Latin  Dictionary"  commenced  by  Milton,  Dr.  Johnson  writes  : 

"  To  collect  a  dictionary,  seems  a  work  of  all  others  least  practicable  in  a  state  of  blindness, 
because  it  depends  upon  perpetual  and  minute  inspection  and  collation.  Nor  would  Milton  probably 
have  begun  it  after  he  had  lost  his  eyes  [eyesight]  ;  but  having  had  it  always  before  him,  he 
continued  it,  says  Phillips,  almost  to  his  dying  day ;  but  Hie  papers  were  so  discomposed  and  deficient, 
Hint  tlifij  could  not  lie  fitted  for  the  press."  Johnson  adds  :  "  The  compilers  of  the  Latin  Dictionary, 
printed  at  Cambridge,  had  the  use  of  those  collections  in  three  folios,  but  what  was  their  fate  after- 
wards is  not  known." 

The  editor,  "H.,"  of  the  Works  of  the  English  Poets,  published  in  1790,  adds 
in  a  note  to  the  above,  that, 

"  The  Cambridge  Dictionary,  published  in  4to.,  1693,  is  no  other  than  a  copy,  with  some  small 
additions,  of  that  of  Dr.  Adam  Littleton  in  1685,  by  sundry  persons,  of  whom,  though  their  names 
are  concealed,  there  is  great  reason  to  conjecture  that  Milton's  nephew,  Edward  Phillips,  is  one  ;  for 
it  is  expressly  said  by  Wood,  'Fasti,'  vol.  i.,  p.  226,  that  Milton's  '  Thesaurus'1  came  to  his  hands  ;  and 
it  is  asserted  in  the  preface  thereto,  that  the  editors  thereof  had  the  use  of  three  large  folios  in  manu- 
script, collected  and  digested  into  alphabetical  order  by  Mr.  John  Milton. 

"  It  has  been  remarked,  that  the  additions,  together  with  the  preface  above  mentioned,  and  a 


1  DR.  ADAM  LITTLETON,  Latin  Dictionary.  4th 
edition.  4to.,  1715.  The  following  passage 
occurs  in  the  "Preface  to  the  English  Reader" 
of  the  above  work  : 

"  Thirdly,  we  had  by  us,  and  made  use  of,  a 
Manuscript  Collection  in  three  LARGE  FOLIOS 
digested  into  an  Alphabetical  Order,  which  the 
Learned  MR.  JOHN  MILTON  had  made  out  of 
Tully,  Livy,  Csesar,  Sallust,  Quintus  Curtius, 
Justin,  Plautus,  Terence,  Lucretius,  Virgil, 
Horace,  Ovid,  Manilius,  Celsus,  Columella,  Varro, 
Cato,  Palladius  ;  in  short,  out  of  all  the  best  and 


purest  ROMAN  Authors.  In  using  the  assist- 
ances mention'd,  we  did  not  take  every,  nay 
scarce  any  word,  any  signification  or  construc- 
tion of  a  word,  upon  trust ;  but  the  way  we  took 
to  make  these  great  Men's  Labours  useful  to  us 
was  this  :  They  seldom  omit  naming  not  only 
the  Author,  but  the  place  in  him,  whence  they 
fetch  their  Authorities.  This  is  known  to  be 
STEPHEN'S  Method,  and  the  same  may  be  seen 
in  ME.  MILTON'S  Manuscript,  by  the  curious  or 
doubtful." 


128 


RAMBLINGS    IN  THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


large  part  of  the  title  of  the  '  Cambridge  Dictionary,'  have  been  incorporated  and  printed  with  the 
subsequent  editions  of '  Littleton's  Dictionary,'  till  that  of  1735.  Vid.  '7<V./<//-.  /,',•//.,'  •J'.iSS,  in  note. 
So  that  for  aught  that  appears  to  the  contrary,  Phillips  was  the  last  possessor  of  Milton's  MS. — H." 

"H.,"  the  editor,  appears  to  have  overlooked  the  information  afforded  by 
Aubrey,  of  the  Manuscript  being  "  in  the  hands  of  Moyses  Pitt." 

SPECIMEN  1. 

j|ROM  a  Document  in  the  STOWE  [now]  ASHBURNHAM  COLLECTION  OF 
MANUSCRIPTS,  namely,  a  Warrant  under  the  Sign  Manual  of  the  Pro- 
tector, Oliver  Cromwell,  dated  "January  1,  1654,"  directing  the  pay- 
ment of  Salaries  due  to  certain  Officers  of  the  Parliament  and  others, 
with  the  original  Autographs  of  the  Receivers." 
We  are  indebted  for  the  tracing  of  the  signature  to  our  much  valued  friend, 
Mr.'  William  James  Smith,  to  whose  care  for  many  years,  as  Librarian  to  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  the  Stowe  Collection  of  Manuscripts  was  committed. 

In  the  same  number  of  the  "Notes  and  Queries"  in  which  the  subjoined  notice 
of  specimens  2  and  3  appeared,  was  also  the  following  from  Mr.  Smith,  upon  the 
subject  of  the  present  signature,  which  we  are  inclined  to  think  is  in  the  autograph 
of  the  Poet : 

"  I  will  not  enter  into  the  question  of  the  date  of  Milton's  blindness.  I  am  aware  that  his 
biographers  do  not  agree  as  to  the  exact  period  of  his  total  loss  of  sight :  some  have  placed  it  as  early 
as  the  close  of  the  year  1652.  In  this  uncertainty,  I  have  always  entertained  some  degree  of  doubt 
whether  this  signature  were  really  that  of  Milton  himself,  or  written  by  another  person  under  his 
autlurrity.  The  character  of  the  capital  letter  M  differs  materially  from  the  fac-similes  which  have 
been  given  in  some  editions  of  his  works." 


SPECIMENS  2  AND  3. 

JR.  GEORGE  OFFOR,  the  well-known  collector  of  Early  English  Bibles, 
has  in  his  possession  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament,  in  which  occurs,  in 
two  instances,  the  name  of  John  Milton  as  here  given,  and  of  which 
the  following  notice  was  communicated  by  him  to  the  editor  of  the 
"Notes  and  Queries"  a  few  years  since. 

"  Some  years  ago,  examining  a  Bible  I  had  purchased,  on  the  back  of  the  title-page  to  the  New 
Testament,  to  my  great  surprise  there  appeared  the  autograph  of  '  John  Milton.'  It  is  in  a  bold  italic 
hand.  The  Bible  is  of  the  present  translation,  small  4to. ;  imprinted  at  London  by  Robert  Barker, 
1614.  The  writing  ink  bears  the  tint  of  age, — certainly  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Above  the  name  of  Milton  is  the  autograph  of  '  Robert  Colecraft.'  Query,  Was  he  connected 
with  Milton  ?  Bound  with  the  Bible  is  a  Concordance,  1615 ;  and  on  the  reverse  of  the  title  is 
'  Robert  Colecraft,'  and,  in  a  very  small  hand,  '  John  Milton.'  This  is  under  a  calculation  showing 
how  many  barleycorns  would  reach  round  the  earth.  The  Milton  State  Papers  are  in  the  library  of 
the  Society  of  Antiquaries.  I  must  take  my  old  Bible,  and  get  permission  to  compare  the  hand- 
writing. Was  any  other  John  Milton  known  about  this  time  ?  It  would  afford  me  pleasure  to  shew 
it  to  any  collector  of  autographs,  and  hear  his  opinion  of  it. — GEORGE  OFFOR." 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


129 


The  second  specimen  has  all  the  appearance  of  having  been  written  by  a  man 
at  an  advanced  period  of  his  life,  and  when  blind.  But  as  there  were  others  of 
the  name  of  John  Milton,  the  signatures  may  not  be  those  of  the  Poet,  though  at  the 
same  time  we  think  that  the  writer,  more  particularly  of  Specimen  2,  was  no  other 
than  John  Milton,  the  author  of  Paradise  Lost. 


SPECIMEN  4. 

| HE  Signature  and  Seal  of  the  Poet  as  attached  to  a  Conveyance  from 
"John  Milton  of  the  City  of  Westminster"  of  a  Bond  for  £400,  given 
by  the  Commissioners  of  Excise1  to  Cyriack  Skinner,  of  Lincoln's  Inn, 
Gentleman.  Dated  7  May,  1660. 

The  original  document  was  sold  in  Wellington-street,  August 
1858,  in  the  collection  of  Autograph  Letters  and  Manuscripts  formed  by  the  late 
Samuel  Weller  Singer,  Esq.,  a  man  distinguished  for  his  literary  attainments.  It 
was  purchased,  as  an  autographic  record,  by  R.  Monckton  Milnes,  Esq.,  M.P.,  for  £19. 
Mr.  Singer  never  entertained  the  smallest  doubt  of  the  signature  being  in  the 
AUTOGRAPH  OF  THE  POET;  an  opinion  which  he  was  apparently  justified  in  main- 
taining, the  signature  being  appended  to  an  official  document  made  under  seal,  and 
witnessed  by  the  Officers  of  the  Excise.  The  moment  we  saw  the  signature,  the 
writing  in  two  of  the  fac-similes  given  in  Bishop  Sumner's  edition  of  the  Treatise 
on  Christian  Doctrine  came  to  our  mind.  There  we  found  the  same  peculiarly 
formed  M  in  the  large  text,  and  also  one  of  a  smaller  size  in  the  beautiful  sonnet 
composed  by  Milton  on  the  death  of  his  second  wife ;  see  the  first  line  in  the  last 
specimen  given  in  plate  XIII. 

"  M ee  thought  I  saio  my  late  espoused  wife." 

We  acknowledge  that  we  were  then  completely  puzzled,  and,  without  reflection, 
came  hastily  to  the  totally  incorrect  conclusion,  that  the  MANUSCRIPT  of  the  Treatise 
on  Christian  Doctrine  was  in  the  AUTOGRAPH  OF  THE  POET.  Consequently,  we 
allowed  the  Document  to  be  sold  as  bearing  the  AUTOGRAPH  SIGNATURE  OF  MILTON; 
adducing,  as  it  were,  the  Manuscript  in  the  State  Paper  Office  in  support  of  our 
opinion ;  and  thus,  we  fear,  misleading  Mr.  Monckton  Milnes. 

Subsequent  investigation,  however,  since  the  decease  of  Mr.  Singer,  of  the 
Autograph  of  Milton,  has  convinced  us  of  the  erroneousness  of  the  opinion  we  then 
entertained;  an  error  which  our  readers  will  more  clearly  see  when  we  come  to 
notice  the  same  peculiar  style  of  writing  in  the  "  De  Doctrind  Cliristianu." 


1  Milton  had  paid  "£2,000  into  the  Excise 
Office  ;  but  neglecting  to  recal  it  in  time,  could 
never  after  get  it  out,  with  all  the  power  and  in- 

terest he  had  in  the  Great  ones  of  those  times." 
"Letters  of  State,"  1694,  p.  xliii,  therein  alluding 
to  his  having  died,  as  stated,  worth  £1,500. 

17 


130 


RAHBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


LETTER    TO    PRESIDENT    BRADSHAW.     1G52. 
DICTATED    BY    MILTON. 

PRESERVED    IN   HER   MAJESTY'S   STATE   PAPER   OFFICE. 


No.    III.1 

SPECIMENS  1  AND  2. 

]HE  commencement  and  ending  of  a  letter  from  the  Poet  to  PRESI- 
DENT BRADSHAW.  It  is  written  by  the  same  hand  as  the  signature, 
John  Milton,  affixed  to  it.  It  does  not  require  a  moment's  considera- 
tion to  determine  that  the  letter  has  been  written  by  some  official,  or 
clerk,  or  by  a  friend  of  the  Poet.  It  is  a  proof  that  Milton,  though  he 
may  not  have  been  quite  blind  at  that  time,  employed  persons  to  write  his  letters 
for  him,  and  to  sign  his  name,  as  in  the  subjoined  letter  to  Bradshaw,-a  letter 
of  considerable  interest.  The  object  of  it  was  the  introduction  of  ANDREW  M.\it- 
VELL,  the  young  friend  of  the  Poet,  to  the  notice  of  the  President  of  the  Council, 
recommending  him  as  a  man  "  of  singular  desert  for  the  State  to  make  use 
of."  It  is  very  interesting  to  notice,  that,  while  urging  the  suit  of  Marvell  as  well 
fitted,  in  the  event  of  the  death  of  his  assistant  Secretaiy,  Mr.  Weckherlyn,-  who,  we 
must  presume,  was  at  that  time  almost  incapacitated  to  perform  his  duties,- to 
succeed  him,  Milton  complains,  in  consequence  of  his  blindness,  of  his  own  unfitness 
to  hold  conferences  with  Ambassadors ;  at  the  same  time  paying  Marvell  a  high 
compliment  by  connecting  his  name  with  the  learned  Ascham. 

"Mr  LORD, 

"  But  that  it  would  be  an  interruption  to  ye  publick,  wherein  yor  studies  are  perpe- 
tually imployd,  I  should  now  &  then  venture  to  supply  this  my  enforced  absence  w01  a  line  or  two, 
though  it  were" — ["were  it"  obliterated,  and  "though  it  were"  written  above  a  caret] — "my  oni'ly 
busines,  <fc  that  would  be  noe  slight  one,  to  make  my"  ["due"  written  above  a  caret]  "acknowledg- 
ments of  yo*  many  favours  ;  which  I  both  doe  at  this  time  &  ever  shall ;  &  have  this  farder  wch  I 
thought  my  parte  to  let  you  know  of,  that  there  will  be  w"1  you  tomorrow,  upon  some  occasion  of 
busines,  a  Gentleman  whose  name  is  Mr.  Marvile ;  a  man  whom,  both  by  report  &  y"  converse  I  have 
had  with  him,  of  singular  desert  for  ye  State  to  make  use  of;  who  alsoe  offers  himsclfe  if  ycre  be  any 
imployment  for  him.  His  father  was  ye  minister  of  Hull  &  he  hath  spent  foure  yeares  abroad  in 
Holland,  France,  Italy,  &  Spaine,  to  very  good  purpose,  as  I  beleeve,  and  ye  gaineing  of  those  4 
languages  ;  besides  he  is  a  scholler,  and  well  read  in  ye  Latin  and  Greeke  authors,  &  noe  doubt  of  an 
approved  Conversation,  for  he  corn's  now  lately  out  of  ye  house  of  yc  Lord  Fairefax  who  was  generall, 
where  he  was  intrusted  to  give  some  instructions  in  yc  languages  to  y"  Lady  his  Daughter.  If  upon 

1  Numbered  wrongly  IIII.  in  the  plate. 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OP 


131 


ye  death  of  Mr.  Wakerley1  y"  Councell  shall  thinke  y*  I  shall  need  any  assistant  in  ye  performance  of 
my  place  (though  for  my  pl  I  find  noe  encumberance  of  that  wch  belongs  to  me,  except  it  be  in  point 
of  attendance  at  Conferences  wh  Ambassadors,  wch  I  must  confesse,  in  my  Condition  I  am  not  fit  for) 
it  would  be  hard  for  them  to  find  a  Man  soe  fit  every  way  for  yl  purpose  as  this  gentleman,  one  who 
I  beleeve  in  a  short  time  would  be  able  to  doe  them  as  good  service  as  Mr.  Ascan.2  This  my  Lord 
I  write  sinceerely  without  any  other  end  then  to  performe  my  dutey  to  ye  Publick  in  helping  them  to 
an  able  servant ;  laying  aside  those  Jealosies  &  that  emulation  wch  mine  owne  condition  might  suggest 
to  me  by  bringing  in  such  a  coadjutor ;  and  remaino, 

"  My  Lord  yor  most  obliged  &  faithfull  servant, 
"  Feb.  f  21,  1652.  «  JOHN  MILTON. 

"  For  ye  Honoble  ye  Lord  Bradshaw." 

Then  follows  the  seal  of  Milton,  with  his  device  of  the  two-headed  eagle. 

AVe  do  not  desire  to  disparage  the  meritorious  researches  of  our  fellow  labourers; 
but  on  comparing  the  reprint  of  the  above  letter  in  the  "  Papers  relating  to  Milton?* 
by  W.  Douglas  Hamilton  of  H.M.  State  Paper  Office,  we  observe  that  the  abbrevia- 
tions in  the  original  have  not  been  accurately  followed.  It  is  most  important,  in 
giving  transcripts  of  such  documents,  that  these  minutiae  should  be  strictly  attended 
to ;  but  in  the  present  day  the  more  youthful  aspirants  for  Literary  and  Antiqua- 
rian Fame  enter  the  field  with  great  zeal,  but  occasionally  with  rather  too  much 
self-complacency.  While  doing  so,  therefore,  they  are  sometimes  induced  to  pass 
over,  somewhat  slightingly,  the  researches  and  the  learning  of  their  more  venerable 
predecessors.  We  are  all  apt  to  do  it,- even  those  who  cannot  claim  inexperience. 
Some  are  apt  to  think  that  the  Modern  System,  by  which  the  boy  of  tender  age 
astonishes  his  parents  by  reading  off-hand,  in  English,  a  chapter  from  the  Greek 
Testament,  can  be  adopted  in  other  studies  than  those  of  the  languages.  They 
desire  to  arrive  at  perfection,  forgetting  that,  by  so  superficial  a  progress,  they  are 
for  the  most  part  ignorant  of  the  common  rudiments  of  the  subject.  But  it  is  the 
order  of  the  day.  The  March  of  Intellect  has  become  more  and  more  impetuous. 
We  plead  guilty  of  occasionally  endeavouring  to  shew  ourselves  very  learned  on 
certain  matters,  and  we  get  thoroughly  plucked.  Then  we  find  we  must  revert  to 
the  good  old  system  as  taught  in  the  Eton  and  Westminster  Grammars,- thoroughly 
to  learn  and  understand  the  groundwork  of  the  subject,  ere  we  venture  to  hope 
that  the  result  of  our  studies,  whether  in  Literature  or  Art,  will  ever  be  worth  the 
perusal  of  our  readers. 


1  WECKHERLYN,  "  the  Secretary  Assistant  for 
the  business  of  Foreign  Affairs."  "He  had 
been  before  employed  as  Secretary  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  from  the  first  establishment  of  the  Joint 
Committee  of  both  Kingdoms  in  Feb.  1643-4. 
What  his  salary  was,  has  not  been  ascertained. 
This  gentleman,  who  was  of  German  extraction, 
Granger  says,  was  Latin  Secretary  to  King 


Charles   I."— Note   to   p.  69  of  "  The  Life   of 
Milton,"  by  Todd.     Works,  edition  1842,  vol.  i. 

'  ASCAX.     Anthony  Ascham,   sent   by   com- 
mand as  Ambassador  to  Philip  IV.  of  Spain. 

3  Issued  by  the  Camden  Society,  1859. 


17 


7  - 


132 


RAMBLIXGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


1HE  Original  of  the  letter  to  Bradshaw  was,  at  the  time  of  writing  his 
Memoir  of  the  Poet,  considered  by  the  learned  Keightley  to  be  auto- 
graph ;l  and  accordingly,  at  page  50,  he  uses  it  as  an  argument  that 
Milton  could  not  have  been  totally  blind  in  the  early  part  of  1653. 

Such  mistakes  are  often  made.  A  very  remarkable  instance  of  a 
somewhat  similar  circumstance  of  mistaking  the  identity  of  handwriting,  or  rather  of 
not  having  attentively  examined  it,  occurred  in  respect  to  a  long  letter  from  MARTIN 
LUTHER  to  the  EMPEROR  CHARLES  V.,  dated  from  Wittemberg,  1520.  It  was  sold, 
February  1833,  in  the  Collection  of  Autograph  Letters  formed  by  John  Anderdon, 
Esq.  It  was  stated  in  the  sale  catalogue  as  being  "  ENTIRELY  IN  HIS  OWN  HAND," 
and  was  consequently  purchased  by  Messrs.  Longman  for  Dr.  Butler,  Bishop  of 
Lichfield,  for  £29.  After  the  decease  of  Bishop  Butler,  his  collections  were 
purchased  by  Messrs.  Payne  &  Foss.  The  Books  were  sold  by  auction  in  1840; 
but  the  Manuscripts  and  Early  Specimens  of  Typography  were  retained  by  those 
gentlemen,  who,  after  having  printed,  in  1841,  a  catalogue  of  the  Collection,  sold 
them  entire  to  the  British  Museum.  The  celebrated  letter  stated  to  be  in  the 
autograph  of  Luther,  accompanied  the  Collection;  and  was  soon  afterwards  exhibited 
in  one  of  the  Show  Cases  in  the  Manuscript  Department  of  the  British  Museum,  as 
one  of  the  most  interesting  treasures  in  our  National  Library.  Seeing  it  there,  we 
called  the  attention  of  the  late  Mr.  Holmes,  the  then  Second  Officer  in  the  Manuscript 
Department,  to  it ;  and  after  some  little  controversial  arguments,  we  believe  we 
proved  to  him  that  it  was  not  in  the  autograph  of  Luther,  but  in  that  very  beautiful 
and  minute  handwriting  of  the  dear  friend  and  coadjutor  of  Luther,  MELANCHTHON. 
It  is  in  the  same  style  of  writing  as  the  letter  from  Melanchthon  to  his  friend 
Wolfgang  Fabricius,  written  about  1523;  of  which  letter  the  commencement  and 
ending  are  given  in  plate  XXV.  of  our  work  on  the  "Unpublished  Documents, 
Marginal  Notes  and  Memoranda,  in  the  Autograph  of  Philip  Melanchthon  and 
Martin  Luther,"  published  in  1840.  We  were  much  rejoiced  to  find,  that,  soon 
afterwards,  the  letter  was  removed  from  the  Show  Case.  The  circumstance  here 
detailed  proves  how  easily  persons,  even  those  distinguished  for  their  palaaographio 
knowledge,  are  misled  in  their  judgment  when  founded  on  the  authority  of  others. 
That  Luther,  of  whom  Melanchthon  has  recorded  "  optime  literas  pinxit,"*  excelled 
in  the  use  of  his  pen,  is  beyond  all  doubt;  but  none  of  the  writings  adjudged  to  be 
the  autograph  of  Luther,  exhibit  the  same  peculiar  character  as  the  letter  under 
consideration,  though  Luther  occasionally  wrote  in  a  very  round  and  small  cursive 
hand.  Luther  never  took  a  very  active  part  as  the  "Pen  of  the  Reformation," 


1  In  the  page  of  "  Corrections"  the  error  is 
noticed,  having  been  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Car- 
ruthers,  of  Inverness,  a  friend  of  the  biographer. 


"  Principia  Typographica,  by  S.  Leigh  Sotheby. 
3  vols.,  small  folio,  1858.     Vol.  iii.,  p.  158. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  133 


a  doubly  significant  title,  afterwards  generously  and  nobly  conferred  upon  Melan- 
chthon  by  Luther  and  his  followers.  It  was  very  natural  that  Luther,  overwhelmed 
with  correspondence,  should  procure  the  aid  of  his  friend  Melanchthon  in  writing 
letters  for  him.  It  may,  however,  be  that  Luther  first  forwarded  the  letter  in  his 
autograph  to  the  Emperor ;  and  that  the  letter  in  the  British  Museum  is  the  dupli- 
cate, also  sent  to  the  Emperor,  it  being  the  custom  in  those  tempestuously  political 
days  of  religious  controversy,  to  send  important  letters  in  duplicate  by  different 
channels. 

j]N  the  "Notes  and  Queries,"  No.  123,  May  8,  1858,  is  a  communication 
from  Mr.  CLARENCE  HOPPER  on  the  subject  of  "  MILTON'S  BLINDNESS," 
wherein  he  brings  forward  the  letter  quoted,  from  the  Poet  to  Presi- 
dent Bradshaw,  as  a  proof  of  Milton  not  having  been  blind  at  that 
period,  February  1652.  Of  course  Mr.  Hopper  considered  the  letter 
to  be  in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet,- an  opinion  which  a  very  superficial  examination 
of  the  handwriting  of  Milton  would  have  convinced  him  was  untenable.  In  that 
communication  Mr.  Hopper,  while  endeavouring  to  shew  that  Milton  was  not  blind 
in  1652,  states : 

"  Some  time  since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  discovering  the  Hartlib  correspondence,  consisting  of 
some  thousands  of  letters,  treatises,  and  other  curious  MSS. ;  and  although  my  examination  was"  but 
very  cursory,  I  saw  enough  to  convince  myself  of  the  probability  of  its  being  a  mine  for  researches, — • 
especially  for  hitherto  unknown  particulars  touching  Milton  and  his  contemporaries, — which  would 
amply  repay  the  zealous  inquirer  into  history.  As  one  of  the  above-named  letters,  viz.,  from  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Durie  to  Samuel  Hartlib,  dated  Zurich,  Nov.  18,  1654,  refers  to  Milton  and  his  blindness,  I 
may  be  excused  in  giving  the  extract : 

" '  I  wish  that  Mr.  Milton  may  recover  his  sight ;  and  I  would  not  have  him  to  despaire  of  it, 
because  I  was  told  y'  an  old  man  of  threescore  and  odd  years,  blind  in  the  territorie  of  Sclaphausen, 
was  cured  by  an  oculist,  an  husbandman  in  those  parts,  who  took  a  cataract  from  his  eyes,  wch  had 
covered  them  so  long  time,  and  now  he  sees  perfectly  againe.  I  pray  you  remember  my  service  to 
him,  and  tell  him  that  Vlack  hath  sent  copies  of  his  Defensw  Secunda  into  these  parts  ;  but  in  many 
places  vitiously  printed,  wch  wrongs  the  sense,  and  y'  none  of  the  London  print  were  brought  to  the 
Mart  of  Frankfort.  Many  here  are  well  pleased  that  hee  hath  handled  Moms  rough ;  but  some  think 
that  Morus  is  wronged.  I  cannot  make  any  certain  judgment  of  w'  is  said  of  him,  but  perhaps  at 
Geneva  I  may  learn  something  more  exactly.  However  it  doth  not  much  concerne  mee  to  be  curious 
therein,  only,  by  the  by,  I  may  listen  after  the  things  wch  are  so  much  contradictorily  debated  amongst 
some  here  ;  but  truly  I  believe  where  there  is  so  much  smoke  there  must  bee  some  fire.' 

"  Another  letter  from  Durie  to  Hartlib,  under  date  of  June  5,  1652,  also  mentions  the  author  of 
Paradise  Lost :  '  Mr.  Bouchart,  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  French  church,  coming  through  Holland, 
did  lodge  with  Salmasius  at  Leiden,  tells  me  that  Salmasius  is  making  readie  an  answer  to 
Mr.  Milton.  I  pray  salute  Mr.  Milton  from  me,  and  let  him  know  this.'  " 

There  being  no  allusion,  in  this  last  letter,  to  the  blindness  of  the  Poet, 
Mr.  Hopper  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  "misfortune  overtook  the  Poet  in 
1654." 


134 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OP 


MAJOR    JOHN    MILTON 

OF   THE   CITY  OF   LONDON   TRAINED   BANDS.      1660. 


No.  IV.1    SPECIMENS  1  AND  2. 


ILTON  is  a  very  uncommon  name;  but  there  happened,  we  believe, 
to  be  several  John  Miltons  during  the  last  two  centuries.    In  the 


"Chronicles  of  a,  City  Church,"2  by  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Murray,3  the  Reverend  Author  notes,  p.  82,  "It  maybe  important 
to  collectors  of  autographs  of  illustrious  persons,  to  learn  that  a 
certain  John  Milton,  who  wrote  a  fine,  intellectual  hand,  was  a 
contemporary  of  the  great  author  of  Paradise  Lost,  an  inhabitant 
of  St.  Dunstan's  in  the  East,  and  probably  a  Captain  of  the  City  Trained  Bands." 
On  application  to  the  Reverend  Clergyman,  who  has  been  lately  elected  a  Member 
of  "  The  Royal  Antiquarian  Society  of  London,"  we  were  immediately  permitted  to 
inspect  the  Registers  of  the  Church,  from  which  it  is  very  evident  that  the  John 
Milton  in  question  was  an  active  member  of  the  parish.  His  name  occurs  with  that 
of  many  other  Parishioners,  as  early  as  May  1642.  In  March  30,  1650,  he  signs 
himself  as  Major  John  Milton;  so  likewise  on  April  23,  1660,  the  last  entry  bearing 
his  name  in  the  Register. 

There  is  certainly  a  little  similarity  in  the  autograph  signature  of  this  Major 
Milton  to  that  of  the  Poet;  but  no  greater  than  what  might  be  expected  to  be  found 
in  the  writing  of  the  same  name,  the  more  so  as  Major  Milton  was  a  man  of  some 
education,-  at  least,  if  we  may  judge  at  all  by  his  autograph.  We  admit,  however, 
that  judgment  founded  only  upon  such  evidence  is  not  very  conclusive.  His  auto- 
graph signature  is  in  most  instances  very  carefully  executed,  as  may  be  inferred 
from  the  specimen  selected. 

Bishop  Sumner,  when  engaged  upon  his  translation  of  the  "De  Doctrind 
Ch  rist  ia  nd"  mentions  that  the  subjoined  memorandum  was  taken  from  a  pocket- 
book  of  one  of  the  Republicans  : 

"  Paid  to  Jn°  Milton,  one  of  Cap*  Whin's  troope,  what  was  spend  by  him  while  hee  was  prisoner 
in  Holt  Castle,  and  ye  ransoming  of  himselfe  from  out  of  prison.     April  16,  1647,  x  11)." 

This  may  have  been  the  John  Milton  of  St.  Dunstan's  in  the  East  referred  to. 


1  Numbered  wrongly  III.  in  the  plate. 

*  Chronicles  of  a  City  Church ;  being  an 
Account  of  the  Parish  Church  of  St.  Dunstan's 
in  the  East,  in  the  City  of  London  :  with  Short 
Biographical  Notices  of  Eminent  Persons  con- 
nected with  the  Church  and  Parish.  By  the 


Rev.  Thomas  Boyles  Murray,  M.A.,  Rector  of 
the  Parish,  and  Prebendary  of  St.  Paul's.  Pub- 
lished by  Smith  &  Elder,  Cornhill,  London. 

1859.  o 

3  While  correcting  this  sheet,  we  lament  to 
see  the  death  of  this  respected  clergyman 
recorded  in  "  The  Times,"  Sept.  29,  1860. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  135 


THE    DEED    OF   ASSIGNMENT    OF    PARADISE    LOST 
TO    SAMUEL    SIMMONS    FOR  £5, 

APRIL  27,  ICG 7. 


PLATE    XIX.     No.  I.     SPECIMENS  1  AND  2. 

HE  commencement  and  ending  of  the  "ORIGINAL  ARTICLES  OF 
AGREEMENT,  dated  27  April,  1667,  between  JOHN  MILTON,  Gent, 
and  SAMUEL  SiMMONS,1  Printer,  for  the  sale  of  THE  COPYRIGHT 
OF  A  POEM  ENTITLED  PARADISE  LOST,"  are  here  given, 

"  In  consideration  of  five  pounds  to  him  now  paid  by  the  said  Samuel 
Symmons,  his  executors  and  assignees,  all  that  Booke,  Copy,  or  Manuscript 
of  a  Poem  intituled  Paradise  Lost,  or  by  whatsoever  other  title  or  name  the 
same  is  or  shall  be  called  or  distinguished,  now  lately  licensed  to  be  printed,  together  with  the  full 
benefitt,  profit,  and  advantage  thereof,  or  woh  shall  or  may  arise  thereby.  And  the  said  John  Milton 
for  him,  his  exrs  and  admrs,  doth  covenant  wth  the  said  Sam"  Symons  his  ex™  and  ass"  that  he  and 
they  shall  at  all  times  hereafter  have  hold  and  enjoy  the  same  and  all  impressions  thereof  accord- 
ingly, without  the  lett  or  hindrance  of  him  the  said  John  Milton,  his  ex™  or  as",  or  any  person  or 
persons  by  his  or  their  consent  or  privity,  and  that  he  the  said  John  Milton,  his  ex™  or  adm™  or  any 
other  by  his  or  their  meanes  or  consent,  shall  not  print  or  cause  to  be  printed,  or  sell  dispose  or 
publish  the  said  book  or  manuscript,  or  any  other  book  or  manuscript  of  the  same  tenor  or  subject, 
without  the  consent  of  the  said  Sam"  Symons,  his  ex™  or  as"." 

The  agreement  then  goes  on  to  state,  that,  after  the  sale  of  thirteen  hundred 
copies  of  the  work,  Milton  was  to  receive  another  sum  of  £5. 

In  1831,  the  Document,  after  passing  through  the  hands  of  many  persons,  as 
we  shall  shortly  notice,  became  the  property  of  SAMUEL  ROGERS,  the  Poet,  by  whom 
it  was  presented,  in  1852,  to  our  National  Library.  It  is  now  exhibited  as  one  of 
the  most  interesting  autographic  relics  in  the  Manuscript  Department  of  the  British 
Museum. 

When  sold  by  Public  Auction,  and  when  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Pickering,  we 
are  not  aware  that  there  was  the  smallest  doubt  of  the  signature  of  the  Poet  being  his 
autograph.  Had  anybody  ventured  at  that  time  in  the  smallest  degree  to  impugn 
the  genuineness  of  the  signature,  he  would  have  been  at  once  set  down  by  those 
against  whose  judgment  there  would  then  have  been  no  appeal,  as  totally  ignorant 
and  incapable  of  forming  any  opinion  upon  the  subject.  On  such  points  we  are  not 
always  so  correct  as  we  presume  to  think  we  are.  The  late  Mr.  Pickering  felt  so 

1  SIMMONS.      The  name  of  the   printer  in  the   document  is   spelt  "  Si/mons."      In  that  dated 
21  December,  1680,  "  Symands" 


136 


HANDLINGS    IN   THE    ELUCIDATION   OF 


perfectly  satisfied  as  to  the  Deed's  bearing  the  genuine  Sign  Manual  of  the  Poet, 
even  as  late  as  1851,  that  he  had  the  whole  of  the  Document  executed  in  fac-simile, 
as  an  illustration  in  his  octavo  edition  of  the  Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  edited  by 
the  late  Rev.  John  Mitford,  published  in  that  year. 

With  all  due  deference  to  the  experience  of  the  late  Mr.  Pickering,  a  question 
arises,  whether  either  Mr.  Pickering  or  the  Rev.  John  Mitford  had  ever  had  the 
opportunity  of  comparing  the  signature  in  that  document  with  any  other  signature 
of  the  Poet  which  was  known  at  that  period  to  exist.  The  probability  is,  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other  had  seen  the  autograph  volume  in  the  Trinity  College  Library. 
The  document  when  in  the  possession  of  the  Poet  Rogers  was  exhibited  by  him  as 
one  of  the  "Lions" of  his  house.  It  was  hung  up, as  some  of  his  visitors  may  remember, 
in  the  little  ante-room  adjoining  the  drawing-room.  For  many  years  one  of  the 
greatest  enjoyments  of  the  Poet  Rogers  was  the  taking  his  friends  round  his  rooms 
and  describing  to  them,  in  his  well-remembered  measured  language,  the  marvellous 
beauty  of  some  of  his  choicest  Greek  vases,  and  the  contents  of  the  cabinet  of  his 
charming  collection  of  minute  objects  and  of  Egyptian  art.  So  likewise  with  his 
Pictures,  and  more  particularly  the  exquisite  Drawings  of  that  favourite  modern 
artist,  STOTHARD.  Seldom,  however,  did  any  of  the  friends  of  Mr.  Rogers  leave  his 
drawing-room,  without  having  seen  the  AUTOGRAPH  of  MILTON,  and  hearing  the 
story  of  its  having  cost  the  Poetjifty  pounds.1  It  was  to  the  astonishment  of  some, 
that  he  so  generously  transferred  his  treasure  to  the  British  Museum.  Now-a-days, 
it  is  rather  hazardous  to  record  opinions  entertained  previous  to  a  question  becoming 
mooted  as  to  the  genuineness  of  documents.  Not  that  in  the  present  case  there  is 
the  smallest  doubt  of  the  authenticity  of  the  document  itself.  It  is  simply  a 
question  as  to  whether  the  SIGNATURE  is  AUTOGRAPH. 

For  some  years  past,  our  attention  has  been  drawn  occasionally  to  the  subject 
of  handwriting.  The  last  time  we  saw  the  document  hanging  up  in  the  library  at 
St.  James's-street,  we  perfectly  recollect  making  some  remark  to  the  effect  that  the 
signature  appeared  to  be  very  carefully  written,  more  particularly,  as  we  then 
thought,  for  a  man  totally  blind ;  but  a  blind  man  can  write,  and  write  well,  as  we 
shall  in  an  ensuing  plate  clearly  shew !  We  afterwards  suspected  that  Mr.  Rogers 
was  not  over-pleased  with  our  observation,- a  thought  quite  inadvertently  expressed, 
as  at  that  time  we  had  never  seen  any  other  autograph  signature  of  the  Poet.  We 
did  not  again  see  the  document  until  it  was  placed  in  the  show  division  of  the 


1  The  little  Pet  Banker-Poet  had  always  a 
stock  of  Anecdotes  adapted  to  every  class  of 
his  visitors.  Many  may  remember  his  habit  of 
sending  for  his  hat  and  umbrella,  to  shew  the 
means  he  took,  by  having  his  name  inscribed 
in  full  on  them,  to  prevent  persons  taking  them 


away  by  mistake.  His  habit  of  punctuality,  his 
employment  of  Sir  Francis  Chantrey  at  a  guinea 
a  week,  when  a  journeyman  carpenter,  together 
with  innumerable  anecdotes  of  an  amusing 
nature  always  ready  for  the  entertainment  of 
his  friends. 


xvnr 


i*#^  rry/n4>Jfo->fc  2  ;  /%/£)£**  /^  J3^g^^4^f6s^r 

**•****# 


2. 


^^ 


m  •    Lt  <f~ 


a      z^ 
^f   fat-nia 

^^^30^9. 

^-nCfrn/nt 
A- 


/  ^  o 


//^ 


•  n- 


C/ 


•  in 


^T<^ 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  137 


Manuscript  Department  of  the  British  Museum.  That  was  long  before  we  took  any 
special  interest  in  the  writing  of  Milton;  but  as  the  Album1  containing  the  indis- 
putable autograph  of  the  Poet  had  been  in  our  possession  some  years  previously,  we 
again  carefully  looked  at  the  signature,  and  left  it  with  a  feeling,  that  the  mere  fact 
of  the  legal  document  having  the  signature  of  Milton,  was  not  altogether  proof  of 
such  signature  being  autograph. 


THE    MILTON    RECEIPTS    FOE    PARADISE    LOST. 

No.  II.     SPECIMENS  1  AND  2.    No.  III. 

LTR  present  pursuit  was,  as  we  have  stated  in  the  Introduction  to 
this  volume,  mainly  undertaken  in  consequence  of  our  having 
been  accidentally  led  to  the  investigation,  whether  a  certain 
receipt  for  money  paid  to  the  Poet  for  the  Copyright  of  Para- 
dise Lost,  was,  as  had  been  stated,  in  the  Autograph  of  the 
Poet. 

In  the  "  Gentleman  s  Magazine"  for  July  1822,  appeared  a  fac-simile  of  a  docu- 
ment bearing  the  name  of  John  Milton,  purporting  to  be  a  receipt  for  the  second 
payment  of  £5  for  the  copyright  of  Paradise  Lost.  It  was  stated  to  have  been 
taken  from  the  original  in  the  possession  of  Sir  Thomas  Gery  Cullum.  It  was 
accompanied  by  a  fac-simile  of  another  document,  dated  21  December,  1680,  signed 
by  Elizabeth  Milton,  the  widow  of  the  Poet,  for  the  sum  of  £8,  in  full  payment  of 
all  her  interest  in  the  copyright  of  that  Poem. 

At  the  sale,  June  1859,  of  the  Collection  of  Manuscript  and  Autograph  Letters 
formed  by  the  late  leviathan  collector,  DAWSON  TURNER,  Esq.,  appeared  what  was  of 
course  considered  to  be  the  identical  documents  referred  to  in  the  "  Gentleman's 
Magazine."  We  had  on  several  occasions  been  shewn  by  Mr.  Dawson  Turner 
the  documents  in  question  ;  but  always  entertained  considerable  doubt  as  to  their 
genuineness.  It  ill  became  us,  however,  to  cast  a  slur  upon  what  so  eminent  a 
collector  possessed;  the  more  so  as  Mr.  Dawson  Turner  never  asked  our  opinion 
respecting  them.  He  knew  perfectly  well  by  what  means  they  formed  a  part  of  his 
collection ;  but  accidentally  omitted  to  record  their  being  fac-similes. 

The  Documents,  however,  created  a  great  interest  at  the  sale;  and  so  little 
doubt  at  the  time  was  publicly  entertained  regarding  them,  that  they  produced  the 
enormous  sum  of  £43  :  1  :  0,  having  been  purchased  by  Mr.  Skeet,  the  bookseller,  on 
commission  for  some  Collector  in  America.  Previous,  however,  to  their  being  sent 
abroad,  Mr.  Skeet  kindly  favoured  us  with  a  photograph  of  each  document,  of  which 
we  have  given,  in  plate  No.  III.,  that  of  the  receipt  from  Elizabeth  Milton,  together 

1  We  allude  to  the  Album  of  Camillus  Cardoyn  previously  described,  pp.  10G-8. 

18 


138 


RAMBLINGS 


THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


with  a  fac-simile1  of  the  receipt  by  Milton  from  the  "Gentleman's  Magazine"  for 
July  1822,  the  photograph  fac-simile  of  that  document  not  being  perfect. 

On  comparing  those  two  fac-similes  of  the  Milton  receipt  here  given,  so  many 
variations  occur,  as  at  once  to  prove  that  the  "Dawson  Turner  Receipt"  was  copied 
from  the  "Outturn  Document."  The  variations  in  themselves  are  trifling,  but  are  quite 
sufficient  to  prove  the  point  in  question.  If,  however,  the  fac-simile,  No.  1,  from 
the  "Gentleman's  Magazine,"  is  correct,  that  given  No.  2  may  be  termed  rather  a 
copy  than  a  fac-simile.  Fac-similes  should  be  what  they  profess  to  be,  otherwise 
they  are  of  no  more  value  than  a  mere  transcript  for  the  purpose  of  future  reference. 

We  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  enter  into  any  argument  to  show  that  the 
character  of  the  writing  in  this  document  differs  from  any  that  we  have  seen 
purporting  to  be  in  the  autograph  of  Milton;  because,  although  it  may  be  shown 
that  a  man  totally  blind  may  be  able  to  write  in  a  continuous  line,  yet  the  correction 
by  way  of  interlineation  of  the  words  "  to  be  paid "  in  the  Milton  Receipt,  almost 
proves  that  it  could  not  have  been  written  by  one  who  had  entirely  lost  his  sight. 
Daily  experience,  however,  teaches  us  not  to  predicate  the  impossibility  of  anything  ! 

A  few  days  after  the  sale  of  the  Documents,  having  occasion  to  address 
Sir  Frederick  Madden  on  the  subject  of  the  known  Milton  Autographs,  that  gentle- 
man wrote,  "I  did  not  bid  for  the  receipt  of  Milton  at  Mr.  D.  Turner's  sales,  as  I  am 
quite  satisfied  that  it  could  not  be  Autograph."  Coupling  this  opinion  with  the  fact 
of  the  discovery  that  the  signature  to  the  Singer  Document  dated  1660  was  not  in 
the  Autograph  of  Milton,  but  had  evidently  been  signed  by  some  person  by  ivay  of 
procuration,  we  were  led  to  examine  the  Milton  Documents  in  the  British  Museum, 
as  also  the  celebrated  volume  of  the  Juvenile  Poems  of  the  Poet  preserved  in  the 
Library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  The  question,  however,  of  the  genuineness 
of  the  "Milton  Receipts"  soon  became  the  subject  of  public  discussion.  We  then 
had  the  pleasure  of  forwarding,- Sept.  8,  1859,- the  fac-simile  in  the  "Gentleman's 
Magazine"  and  the  Photograph  to  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Literary  World. 
In  doing  so,  we  stated,  "that  either  the  one  given  in  the  'Gentleman's  Magazine  was 
incorrectly  drawn,  or  that  the  one  sold  must  be  a  copy  of  it." 

Consequently,  in  "  The  Athenceum"  for  the  following  week,  Sept.  17,  appeared 
the  subjoined  article,  as  also  another  that  followed  on  Oct.  1. 

"  The  recent  sale  of  an  autograph  receipt,  by  John  Milton,  for  £5,  on  account  of  Paradise  Lost, 
has  raised  a  question  as  to  the  genuineness  of  the  Milton  autographs.  There  are  two  sets  of  autograph 


1  Fac-similes  of  Documents  from  fac-similes 
are  not  desirable  ;  but  as  we  did  not  wish  to 
trouble  Lady  Cnllum  by  asking  the  favour  of 
being  allowed  to  take  fac-similes  from  the  origi- 
nals in  her  possession, — more  particularly  after 
the  unpleasant  circumstances  that  had  occurred 
on  the  subject  of  the  sale  of  the  Documents  in 


the  Dawson  Turner  Collection, — we  have  given 
the  fac-simile  of  the  receipt  by  Milton,  from 
that  which  appeared  in  the  catalogue  of  the 
collection  sold  in  June  1859  ;  presuming  that  it 
is  correct ;  which,  even  if  it  is  not  quite  accu- 
rate, answers,  on  the  points  referred  to,  the  pur- 
pose required. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


139 


receipts  in  existence — one  set  in  the  possession  of  Lady  Cullum  :  a  receipt  for  £5,  signed  with  the 
name  of  Milton,  April  26,  1669,— a  receipt  for  £8,  signed  by  his  widow,  December  21,  1680,— a 
final  discharge,  drawn  up  in  legal  form,  signed  by  the  widow,  April  29,  1681.  A  second  set  is  that 
which  occurred  the  other  day  in  the  sale  of  Mr.  Dawson  Turner's  collection,  consisting  of  a  receipt 
for  £5,  signed  by  the  name  of  Milton,  April  26,  1669, — and  a  receipt  for  £8,  signed  by  his  widow, 
December  21,  1680.  So  far  as  they  go,  these  two  sets  of  documents  coincide  in  date,  and,  we  may 
add,  in  wording.  Both  cannot  be  originals.  If  Lady  Cullum's  autographs  are  genuine,  Mr.  Dawson 
Turner's  were  copies.  How  came  the  two  sets  into  existence  ?  We  are  able  to  state  a  fact,  which, 
taken  in  connexion  with  the  discovery  of  a  pretended  receipt  by  Milton  among  the  Dawson  Turner 
manuscripts,  almost  involves  of  necessity  another  fact.  Many  years  ago  the  Milton  manuscripts 
were  lent  by  Sir  Thomas  Cullum  to  Mr.  Turner,  who  kept  them  for  some  time  in  his  hands,  and, 
ultimately,  restored  them  to  their  owner.  It  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  Mr.  Dawson  Turner 
restored  the  originals  which  he  had  borrowed.  It  is  all  but  impossible  to  doubt  that  he  took 
advantage  of  their  temporary  possession  to  make  copies  for  his  private  satisfaction — and,  of  course, 
with  no  idea  that  these  copies  would  ever  be  mistaken  for  the  originals.  Were  not  these  copies 
disposed  of  the  other  day  by  Messrs.  Puttick  &  Simpson  ?"  Aihenceum,  Sept.  17. 

"  The  value  of  the  receipts  for  money  on  account  of  Paradise  Lost  is  a  separate  question  from 
that  of  their  genuineness.  A  discharge,  signed  by  Milton  himself,  on  account  of  Paradise  Lost, 
would  be  a  most  precious  document,  of  the  greatest  literary  and  biographical  interest,  which  a 
private  collector  would  be  proud  to  possess,  and  which  the  nation,  were  it  ever  for  sale,  should 
secure  for  its  great  library  at  any  reasonable  cost.  A  receipt,  signed  for  Milton  by  another  and 
unknown  hand,  has  no  interest,  save  as  confirming  the  fact  of  a  sale  and  a  discharge — a  fact  not 
standing  in  need  of  confirmation.  None  of  these  receipts  are  beyond  doubt  in  Milton's  autograph. 
He  was  blind  at  the  time.  A  comparison  of  the  handwriting  of  Milton,  as  seen  in  the  Cambridge 
MSS.,  seems  to  us  to  prove  that  they  were  written  by  some  one — not  his  wife — empowered  by  him 
to  sign.  Who  was  this  person  ?"  Atlienceum,  Oct.  1. 

On  the  perusal  of  the  latter  paragraph  we  addressed  to  the  Editor  of 
"  The  AthencBum"  the  subjoined  letter,  having  previously  expressed  our  views  upon 
the  subject : 

"  The  Woodlands,  Norwood,  October  6th,  1859. 

"  My  attention  being  called  to  a  paragraph  in  the  Athencsum  of  last  week  upon  the  subject  of 
certain  receipts  of  the  Poet  Milton  for  monies  received  by  him  on  account  of  Paradise  Lost,  permit 
me  to  notice,  that  I  believe  there  will  be  not  much  difficulty  in  eventually  ascertaining  by  whom 
these  receipts  were,  doubtless  by  procuration,  signed.  The  Poet  was  at  that  period  perfectly  blind, 
though  at  the  same  time  he  might  have  been  quite  able  to  sign  his  name,  as  any  blind  person 
accustomed  previously  to  the  exercise  of  his  pen  might  with  facility  do. 

"  The  receipt  which  was  lately  sold  for  an  exorbitant  sum,  at  the  sale  of  the  collection  of 
autograph  letters  formed  by  the  late  Mr.  Dawson  Turner,  was,  I  believe,  never  shown  by  that 
gentleman  as  the  genuine  autograph  of  Milton. 

"  On  comparing  it  with  the  fac-simile  of  the  original  document, — then  in  the  possession  of 
Sir  Thomas  Grey  Cullum, — engraved  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  July  1822,  it  is  very  evident, 
from  minute  yet  important  variations,  that  the  Dawson  Turner  receipt  was  a  copy  of  the  original 
there  fac-similed. 

"  I  should  not  have  trespassed  upon  your  columns  upon  this  subject,  had  I  not  been  engaged 
for  several  months  past  in  preparing  a  brochure  upon  the  general  autograph  of  Milton ;  in  the 
illustration  of  which  I  have  been  permitted  to  make,  among  others,  fac-similes  of  seven  pages  of  that 
most  interesting  volume  containing  the  Juvenile  Poems,  in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet,  preserved  in 
the  Library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 

"  I  herewith  have  the  pleasure  of  forwarding  to  you  one  of  the  fac-similes  from  that  volume. 

IS2 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


It  is  a  portion  of  the  Poet's  original  design  of  Paradise  Lost,  written  about  thirty  years  before  the 
work  was  published.  You  will  there  see  that  the  writing  was  that  of  one  whose  mind  was  more 
attentive  to  the  subject  than  to  his  pen ;  consequently,  the  specimen  does  not  display  any  of  that 
excellence  in  penmanship  which  is  found  in  other  existing  documents,  proving  that  Milton,  as  Latin 
Secretary  to  Oliver  Cromwell,  was  not  unskilled  in  the  execution  of  what  was  very  essential  to  his 
public  position — '  a  good  hand.' 

"  S.  LEIGH  SOTHEBY." 

We  never  doubted  the  genuineness  of  the  Milton  Document  in  the  possession 
of  Lady  Cullum.  The  point  we  desired  to  shew  was,  that  it  was  not  in  the 
autograph  of  the  Poet.  We  were  therefore  not  a  little  astonished  to  find,  from  the 
subjoined  paragraph  in  The  Athenceum,  February  11, 1860,  that  a  decision  had  been 
come  to,  founded  on  facts  "fixed  on  a  solid  base,"  that  the  Milton  Eeceipt  is  in  the 
autograph  of  the  Poet !-"  Lady  Cullum's  autographs  are  established  as  genuine." 
The  documents  themselves  are  certainly  genuine  :-but  that  purporting  to  be  signed 
by  Milton  is  not  in  his  autograph.  The  others  are  fac-similes  made  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  Dawson  Turner,  probably  by  one  of  his  accomplished  Daughters, 
of  whose  skill  in  making  fac-similes  we  have  a  well  executed  example,  in  our 
Melanchthon  Collection,  of  a  letter  of  the  Great  Reformer. 

"  After  an  inquiry,  carried  on  with  the  most  honourable  and  amiable  desire  to  do  what  is  right 
under  circumstances  of  some  difficulty,  the  curious  question  of  the  Milton  autographs  has  been  set  at 
rest.  Lady  Cullum's  autographs  are  established  as  genuine — Dawson  Turner's  as  copies.  The  sale 
by  Messrs.  Puttick  &  Simpson  is  cancelled — the  copies  are  returned — and  the  facts,  as  regards 
these  Milton  Papers,  are  fixed  on  a  solid  base." 

That  the  signature  "John  Milton"  to  the  Singer  Document  is  in  the  same  hand 
as  that  employed  in  the  De  Doctrind  Christiana  is,  we  consider,  quite  clear. 
Consequently,  it  proves,  that,  in  1660,  the  Poet,  being  then  totally  blind,  was 
permitted,  notwithstanding  the  insertion  of  the  preliminary  official  words,  "  Witness 
my  hand  and  seal,"  to  sign  by  PROCURATION. 

At  first  sight,  without  the  means  of  comparing,  we  were  led  to  think  that  the 
receipt  bearing  the  name  of  the  Poet  was  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Amanuensis 
employed  by  Milton  in  his  De  Doctrind  Christiand.  The  reader  is  referred  to 
No.  1 5  of  the  specimens  taken  from  that  volume,  the  fac-simile  being  of  an  entire 
page,  the  552nd,  of  that  portion  of  the  manuscript  which  was  written  by  the  Amanu- 
ensis who  was  employed  on  the  whole  of  the  latter  part  of  the  volume,  the  difference 
in  the  writing  of  that  and  a  few  others,  being,  that  they  were  evidently  written  at  a 
later  period  and  in  a  much  more  cursive  hand,  such  as  we  may  presume  was  then 
the  more  ordinary  hand  of  the  party  employed.  There  is  naturally  a  little  difference 
in  appearance  when  the  writing  is  in  Latin;  but  at  the  same  time  we  do  not  feel 
warranted  in  maintaining  our  previously  conceived  opinion  that  the  Milton  Receipt 
dated  April  26,  1669,  is  in  the  same  handwriting  as  page  552  in  the  De  Doctrind 
Christiand. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


141 


FAC-SIMILES    OF    AUTOGEAPH    SIGNATUKES 
WRITTEN    WHEN    BLINDFOLDED. 


PLATE    XIX*. 


E  are  much  indebted  to  the  many  distinguished  Antiquarians, 
Literary  Men,  and  kind  Friends,  who  have  so  promptly  favoured 
us  with  the  examples  of  their  writing  when  blindfolded,  here 
given  in  fae-simile.  It  was  a  novel  idea  of  ours ;  and  we  plead 
guilty  to  having  designed  it,  not  only  for  the  purpose  avowed,  but 
also  of  adding  interesting  materials  to  our  specially  illustrated 
copy  of  the  present  work,  by  a  collection  of  the  Autograph 
Signatures  of  Men  and  Friends  distinguished  in  all  Branches  of  Intellectuality.  We 
desire  further  here  to  note,  that  we  shall  be  most  thankful  to  receive  any  additional 
signatures  so  executed ;  and  on  application  will  immediately  forward  a  sheet  of 
paper,  as  we  previously  did  to  all  to  whom  we  applied,  containing  the  subjoined  letter: 
"  In  my  '  Rumblings  in  the  Elucidation  of  the  Autograph  of  Milton,'  a  work 
upon  which  I  am  now  engaged,  I  am  desirous  of  shewing  that  any  body,  totally 
blind,  is  still  capable  of  signing  his  name,  and  indeed  of  writing  in  one  continuous 
line ;  though,  unless  he  has  something  placed  under  his  little  finger  to  guide  him, 
the  line  of  writing  might  not  be  correctly  horizontal.  In  illustration  of  this  point, 
many  kind  friends  have  forwarded  to  me  their  usual  signature  written  when  closely 
blindfolded.  May  I  venture  to  ask  you  to  allow  some  friend  to  blindfold  you,  and 
to  write  your  usual  signature  at  the  foot  of  this  letter,  thus  affording  an  additional 
instance  of  what  I  am  desirous  of  confirming  1" 


i]N  finding  the  Signatures  we  were  desirous  of  inserting  too  numerous  for 
plate  XIX.,  we  have  availed  ourselves  of  the  opportunity  of  again 
exemplifying  on  the  ensuing  page  the  very  interesting  processes  of  the 
Electro-Printing  Block  Company,  by  which  the  fac-similes  of  any  similar 
or  engraved  productions  can  be  at  pleasure  reduced.  The  examples 
give  four  reductions  of  the  original.  Our  confined  space  allows  not  of  our  giving 
examples  of  enlargement,  which  is  made  with  as  much  facility  as  the  reduction, 
depending  merely  on  the  size  of  the  apparatus  used. 


XIX* 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTOX. 


142« 


JOHANNIS    MILTONI    ANGLI 
DE    DOCTRINA    CHEISTIANA 

LIBRI   DUO   POSTHUMI. 


OME  DAY  I  SHALL  ADDRESS  A  WORK  TO  POSTERITY,  WHICH  WILL 
PERPETUATE  MY  NAME,  AT  LEAST  IN  THE  LAND  IN  WHICH  1 
WAS  BORN." 

While  quoting  the  preceding  passage  from  a  letter  by  Milton, 
LAMARTiNE,1  the  Historian,  adds, 

"ALL  GREAT  MINDS  THUS  ANTICIPATE  THEIR  FUTURE  GLORY." 


"  GLORY,"  writes  Lord  Camden  in  his  argument  against  the  common-law  right 
to  Literary  Property,  "  is  the  reward  of  science ;  and  those  who  deserve  it,  scorn  all 
meaner  views.  I  speak  not  of  the  scribblers  for  bread,  who  teaze  the  press  with 
their  wretched  productions ;  fourteen  years  are  too  long  a  privilege  for  their  perish- 
able trash.  It  was  not  for  gain  that  Bacon,  Newton,  Milton,  Locke,  instructed  and 
delighted  the  world.  When  the  bookseller  offered  Milton  £5  for  his  Paradise  Lost, 
he  did  not  reject  it,  and  commit  his  poem  to  the  flames,  nor  did  he  accept  the 
miserable  pittance  as  the  reward  of  his  labour.  He  knew  that  the  real  price  of  his 
work  was  immortality,  and  that  posterity  would  pay  it." 

In  the  letter,  of  which  two  drafts  in  the  autograph  of  Milton  are  preserved  in 
the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  occurs  the  subjoined  passage,  tending  to  shew  that 
the  mind  of  Milton  was  impressed  at  that  early  period  of  his  life,  with  forebodings 
of  his  future  career.  He  had  been  accused,  while  at  Cambridge,  of  leading  a  compa- 
ratively inactive  life,  he  not  having  then  selected  any  future  professional  occupation. 
In  answer  to  his  accusers,  while  defending  his  "  solitariness,"  he  adds  :  "  And  though 
this  were  enough,  yet  there  is  another  act,  if  not  of  pure,  yet  of  refined  nature,  no 
less  applicable  to  persuade  prolonged  obscurity,- a  desire  of  honour  and  repute  and 
immortal  fame,  seated  in  the  breast  of  every  true  scholar ;  which  all  make  haste  to 


1  "  In  a  letter  to  a  confidential  friend,  he  thus 
expresses  himself :  '  Some  day  I  shall  address  a 
work  to  posterity,  which  will  perpetuate  my 
name,  at  least  in  the  land  in  which  I  was  born.' 
All  great  minds  thus  anticipate  their  future 


glory :  this  feeling,  which  the  vulgar  mistake 
for  pride,  is  in  fact  the  inwardly-speaking  con- 
science of  their  genius." — "  Memoirs  of  Cele- 
brated Characters"  by  Alphonse  de  Lamartine. 
2  vols.,  1854  [Milton]  ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  5. 


E.  AMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OP 


by  the  readiest  ways  of  publishing  and  divulging  conceived  merits,-as  well  those 
that  shall,  as  those  that  never  shall,  obtain  it." 

The  result  of  this  longing  after  immortality  and  its  appreciation  by  posterity, 
is  thus  well  characterized  by  Winstanley,  a  contemporary,  but  by  no  means  an 
admirer,  of  Milton,  in  his  "Lives  of  the  most  Famous  English  Poets :"  "  Now,  though 
it  is  the  desire  of  all  writers  to  purchase  to  themselves  immortal  fame,  yet  is  their 
fate  far  different:- some  deserve  fame,  and  have  it;  others  neither  have  it,  nor 
deserve  it ;  some  have  it,  not  deserving ;  and  others,  though  deserving,  yet  totally 
miss  it,  or  have  it  not  equal  to  their  deserts."1 

The  ambition  of  obtaining  a  name  and  transmitting  it  to  posterity,  is  traceable 
in  the  earliest  record  of  the  human  race;  for  we  read  in  Gen.  xi.  4,  that,  in  the  time 
of  Noah,  the  people  journeying  from  the  East  said,  "  Let  us  build  us  a  city  and  a 
tower  whose  top  may  reach  unto  Heaven ;  and  let  us  make  us  a  name."  The  poets 
of  antiquity  were  animated  with  the  same  love  of  fame.  Ovid,  Horace,  Lucau,  and 
Martial,  all  predicated  of  their  writings  that  they  would  be  immortal ;  and 
posterity  has  indorsed  their  prognostications.  The  Poet  Milton  has  obtained  the 
immortality  for  which  he  aspired,  but  not  from  The  Work  he  fondly  hoped  would 
have  perpetuated  his  "name,  at  least  in  the  land  in  which  he  was  born."  The 
way  in  which  posterity  has  appreciated  his  Treatise  ".De  Doctrind  Christiana," 
as  well  as  his  "Paradise  Regained,' '-a  work  which  Milton  greatly  preferred  to 
his  "Paradise  Lost,"- shews  how  fallacious  was  his  judgment  of  their  respective 
merits. 

In  the  preliminary  observations  to  the  translation  of  the  former  work,  Bishop 
Sumner  very  forcibly  remarks  : — "  It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  disqualifi- 
cations for  such  a  work  as  the  present,  were  neither  few  nor  unimportant.  They 
were  partly  owing  to  the  unhappy  circumstances  of  the  period  at  which  he  lived,  and 
partly  to  that  peculiar  disposition  of  mind  which  led  him  to  view  every  surrender  of 
individual  opinion,  whether  in  morals  or  politics,  as  an  infringement  on  the  rights  of 
natural  liberty.  In  his  time  power  was  abused  under  pretence  of  religion,  in  a  degree 
to  which,  happily  for  genuine  Christianity,  the  ecclesiastical  annals  can  scarcely 
afford  a  parallel ;  and  the  universal  prevalence  of  an  intolerant  spirit,  from  which  his 
own  connexions,  as  well  as  himself,  had  suffered  severely,  disposed  him  to  look  with 
an  unfavourable  eye,  not  only  upon  the  corruptions,  but  on  the  doctrine  itself  and 
discipline  of  the  church." 

Numerous  instances  might  be  recorded  of  men  arriving  at  the  highest  possible 
position  in  the  professions  they  have  embraced ;  and  yet  who  consider  that  their 
talents  ought  to  have  been  employed  in  some  other  direction.  Accordingly  we 
find  recorded  of  Statesmen  who  have  been  well  skilled  in  Literature,  Art,  and 


1  Epistle  to  the  Reader,  p.  vi. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


143 


Science,  as  well  as  in  the  Sports  of  the  Field.  Great  Warriors  and  Authors  have 
also  become  Great  Statesmen.  Remarkable  instances  of  the  perversity  and  vanity 
of  the  mind  of  man,  which  have  led  him  to  contend  against  the  ways  and  means 
assigned  by  Providence  to  him  in  his  calling,  might  be  adduced  in  illustration  of 
this  subject. 

To  the  Muse  was  the  earliest  attachment  of  Milton.  "  The  excellency  of  the 
English  Poetts"  was  engraved  on  his  heart-"  Poetts  live  for  ever"-"  Good  Poetts 
are  envied,  yet  in  spite  of  envy  get  immortal  glory."  Such  are  the  prophetic  words 
that  Milton  has  written  on  one  of  the  pages  of  his  much  loved  and  often  quoted 
work,  Britannia's  Pastorals  by  the  Poet  Browne.1  His  fame  as  a  Poet,  however, 
was  destined  to  be  deferred.  Though  on  his  return  from  the  Continent  in  1639  he 
recorded  in  his  poetical  repository  the  outlines  of  several  of  his  intended  productions, 
including  that  of  his  Paradise  Lost,  yet  a  few  Sonnets  and  some  minor  Poems  are 
the  only  pieces  that  can  justify  the  idea,  that,  after  Milton  had  entered  the  Arena  of 
the  Polemical  and  Political  affairs  of  his  country,  he  still  devoted  his  mind  to  his 
much  loved  Muse. 

It  was  not  until  some  time  after  he  had  retired  from  the  duties  of  public  life, 
that  his  innate  love  of  poetry  was  rekindled.  "  The  remembrance  of  early  reading," 
as  that  learned  Historian  Hallam  beautifully  writes,  "came  over  his  dark  and 
lonely  path  like  the  moon  emerging  from  the  clouds.  Then  it  ivas  the  Muse  was 
truli/  his."  The  interval,  however,  of  leisure  during  the  period  of  his  active  duties  as 
Latin  Secretary,  and  when  his  pen  was  not  employed  in  the  cause  of  upholding  the 
Commonwealth,  must  have  been  partially  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures, 
preparatory  to  his  committing  to  paper  the  result  of  his  long-cherished  ideas  upon 
the  Principles  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Christian  Religion.  It  is  far  beyond  our 
powers  to  venture  an  opinion  upon  the  merits  of  that  work;  a  work  which  Milton 
consigned,  as  it  were,  to  Providence,  in  the  full  belief  that  the  religious  views  he  had 
with  so  much  zeal  and  perseverance  held  for  many  years,  would  be  ultimately 
adopted  by  posterity.  His  inspired  poem,  Paradise  Lost,  was  the  relaxation  of  his 
then  peaceful  mind;  not  the  laboured  produce  of  a  crest-fallen  spirit,  lamenting 
the  judgment  passed  upon  his  political  views.  Milton  must  have  been  prepared  to 
receive  the  contumely  of  his  enemies  rather  than  their  pity.  While  he  looked  to 
the  future  for  a  more  enlightened  and  considerate  view  of  his  past  political  character, 
he  indulged  the  hope  that  his  name  might  not  only  ultimately  rank  with  the  most 
favoured  of  his  much  loved  Muse,  but  be  remembered  as  a  firm  supporter  of  the 
Protestant  Faith,  even  by  those  who  conscientiously  differed  from  him  upon  certain 
points  of  religion. 

When  at  College,  Milton  had  entertained  opinions  at  variance  with  those  of 
the  authorities  on  the  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  the  Church.  He  was  destined  to 

1  Britannia's  Pastorals,  by  W.  Browne.     See  plate  XIV. 


144  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


take  an  active  part  against  the  then  administration  of  the  religion  and  politics  of  his 
country.     He  unflinchingly  expressed  his  views.     The  learned  Symmons  states,  that, 

jjX  Milton's  return  from  the  continent,  he  found,  as  he  informs  us,  the  clamour  loud, 
and  general  against  the  bishops;  some  complaining  of  their  tyranny,  and  some 
protesting  against  the  existence  of  the  mitred  hierarchy  itself.  It  was  now 
beginning  to  be  safe  to  talk :  but,  the  Parliament  not  being  yet  convened,  the  public 
indignation  was  forced  still  to  wait,  during  a  short  interval,  before  it  could  diffuse 
itself  from  the  press.  When  this  rapid  propagator  of  opinions  and  best  guardian  of 
truth  was  at  last  liberated,  the  prelatical  party  was  assailed  on  all  sides  with  argument  and  learning, 
with  virulence  and  reproach.  Our  author,  as  I  believe,  was  on  this  occasion  the  leader  of  the  attack ; 
the  first  who  became  the  organ  of  his  own  and  of  the  popular  resentment  against  the  rulers  of  the 
church.  His  beloved  tutor,  Young,  had  been  one  of  the  victims  of  the  primate's  intolerance  ;  and 
the  new  polemic  entered  on  his  career  with  the  blended  feeling  of  public  and  of  private  wrong,  with 
the  zeal  of  a  sanguine,  and  with  the  emotion  of  an  injured,  man. 

"His  two  books '  Of  Reformation  touching  Church  Government  in  England,'  addressed  to  a  friend, 
discover  earnestness  and  integrity ;  and  are  the  produce  of  a  forcible  and  acute,  a  comprehensive 
and  richly  stored  mind.  'And  here  withal,'  he  says,  'I  invoke  the  Immortal  Deity,  revealer  and 
judge  of  secrets,  that  wherever  I  have  in  this  book,  plainly  and  roundly  (though  worthily  and  truly) 
laid  open  the  faults  and  blemishes  of  fathers,  martyrs,  or  Christian  emperors,  or  have  inveighed 
against  error  and  superstition  with  vehement  expressions,  I  have  done  it  neither  out  of  malice,  nor 
list  to  speak  evil,  nor  any  vain  glory ;  but  of  mere  necessity  to  vindicate  the  spotless  truth  from 
an  ignominious  bondage.'  The  reformation  in  our  Church  had  not  proceeded,  as  he  thought,  to  the 
proper  extent ;  and  the  suspension  of  its  progress  he  attributes  principally  to  its  prelates,  '  who, 
though  they  had  renounced  the  Pope,  yet  hugged  the  popedom,  and  shared  the  authority  among 
themselves.'  He  gives  a  minute  history  of  the  Church  of  England  from  its  birth ;  and,  explaining 
the  causes  of  what  he  deemed  to  be  its  imperfect  separation  from  that  of  Rome,  and  its  halting  at  a 
distance  behind  the  other  reformed  churches,  he  pays  no  great  respect  to  the  venerable  names  of  our 
early  reformers,  who  attested  the  purity  of  their  motives  with  their  blood.  Though  excellent,  they 
were  still  indeed  fallible  men ;  and,  admitting  that  their  example  or  their  doctrine  could  be  employed 
as  the  shield  of  error,  every  true  Christian  would  join  with  our  author  in  exclaiming,  '  More  tolerable 
it  were  for  the  Church  of  God  that  all  these  names  (of  Cranmer,  Latimer,  Ridley,  etc.)  were  utterly 
abolished,  like  the  brazen  serpent,  than  that  men's  fond  opinions  should  thus  idolize  them,  and  the 
heavenly  truth  be  thus  captivated."1 

It  is  remarkable  that  DE.  JOHNSON,  in  his  memoir  of  the  Poet,  should  have 
made  no  mention  whatever  of  Milton  having  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  a  Trent  i*' 
of  Christian  Theology,- a,  fact  recorded  long  before  Johnson  was  called  upon  to  write 
his  biographical  notice  of  the  Poet.  In  that  memoir  he  writes  of  Milton,  that, 

HIS  theological  opinions  are  said  to  have  been  first  Calvinistical ;  and  afterwards,  perhaps 
when  he  began  to  hate  the  Presbyterians,  to  have  tended  towards  Arminianism.  In 
the  mixed  questions  of  theology  and  government,  he  never  thinks  that  he  can  recede  far 
enough  from  popery  or  prelacy;  but  what  Baudius  says  of  Erasmus  seems  applicable 
to  him,  magis  habuit  quodfugeret,  quam  quod  «<vy /''•/•< •/»<•.  He  had  determined  rather 
what  to  condemn  than  what  to  approve.  He  has  not  associated  himself  with  any 

denomination  of  Protestants  :  we  know  rather  what  he  was  not  than  what  he  was.     He  was  not  of 

the  church  of  Rome  ;  he  was  not  of  the  church  of  England. 

1  The  Life  of  John  Milton,  by  Charles  Symmons,  D.D.,  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford.  8vo.,  1810, 
pp.  226-8. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  145 


"  To  be  of  no  church  is  dangerous.  Religion,  of  which  the  rewards  are  distant,  and  which  is 
animated  only  by  Faith  and  Hope,  will  glide  by  degrees  out  of  the  mind,  unless  it  be  invigorated, 
and  reimpressed  by  external  ordinances,  by  stated  calls  to  worship,  and  the  salutary  influence  of 
example.  Milton,  who  appears  to  have  had  full  conviction  of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  to  have 
regarded  the  Holy  Scriptures  with  the  profoundest  veneration,  to  have  been  untainted  by  any  heretical 
peculiarity  of  opinion,  and  to  have  lived  in  a  confirmed  belief  of  the  immediate  and  occasional  agency 
of  Providence,  yet  grew  old  without  any  visible  worship.  In  the  distribution  of  his  hours,  there  was 
no  hour  of  prayer,  either  solitary  or  with  his  household;  omitting  publick  prayers,  he  omitted  all. 

"  Of  this  omission  the  reason  has  been  sought,  upon  a  supposition  which  ought  never  to  be 
made,  that  men  live  with  their  own  approbation,  and  justify  their  conduct  to  themselves.  Prayer 
certainly  was  not  thought  superfluous  by  him,  who  represents  our  first  parents  as  praying 
acceptably  in  the  state  of  innocence,  and  efficaciously  after  their  fall.  That  he  lived  without  prayer 
can  hardly  be  affirmed;  his  studies  and  meditations  were  an  habitual  prayer.  The  neglect  of  it  in 
his  family  was  probably  a  fault  for  which  he  condemned  himself,  and  which  he  intended  to  correct ; 
but  that  death,  as  too  often  happens,  intercepted  his  reformation." 


JMONGr  the  thousands  of  devotional  volumes  published  yearly  in  this 
country,  there  are  not  many  that  excel  in  Christian  spirit  the 
"Prayers  and  Meditations"  composed  by  the  learned  Dr.  Johnson,  of 
which  Murphy1  justly  observes, 

"  We  have  before  us  the  very  heart  of  the  man,  with  all  his  inward  conscious- 
ness. And  yet,  neither  in  the  open  paths  of  life,  nor  in  his  secret  recesses,  has  any  one  vice  been 
discovered.  We  see  him  reviewing  every  year  of  his  life,  and  severely  censuring  himself  for  not 
keeping  resolutions,  which  morbid  melancholy,  and  other  bodily  infirmities,  rendered  impracticable. 
We  see  him,  for  every  little  defect,  imposing  on  himself  voluntary  penance;  going  through  the  day 
with  only  one  cup  of  tea  without  milk ;  and  to  the  last,  amidst  paroxysms  and  remissions  of  illness, 
forming  plans  of  study  and  resolutions  to  amend  his  life.  Many  of  his  scruples  may  be  called  weak- 
nesses ;  but  they  are  the  weaknesses  of  a  good,  a  pious,  and  most  excellent  man." 

The  "Prayers  and  Meditations"  of  Johnson  were  composed  at  various  periods 
of  his  life,  commencing  as  early  as  1738  ;  the  last  bearing  date  December  5,  1784, 
eight  days  only  before  his  death.  Many  of  these  Prayers  exhibit  a  degree  of  fervour 
seldom  surpassed  in  the  holy  exercises  of  our  Divines.  They  are,  however,  mostly 
of  a  personal  character,  corresponding  much  with  his  "  Meditations,"  which  consist 
chiefly  of  resolutions  of  amendment  in  his  daily  duties,  many  of  which  were 
forgotten  and  re-resolved  in  his  succeeding  devotions. 

The  Eev.  George  Strahan,  Vicar  of  Islington,  under  whose  care  the  selection 
was  published,  was,  we  believe,  a  relation  of  Dr.  Johnson.  Had  his  Reverend  Kins- 
man confined  himself  to  the  issuing  of  the  Prayers,-  prayers  which  were  as  applic- 
able to  those  of  the  age  of  their  author,  or  to  those  suffering  under  similar  bodily 
infirmities,  as  to  himself,-they  would  have  formed  a  very  appropriate  book  for 
Family  use.  The  "  Meditations"  are  interesting  as  shewing  the  daily  habits  of  such 
a  man  as  Johnson;  but  they  do  not  in  any  way  add  to  the  preconceived  estimation 

1  Essay  on  Dr.  Johnson,  by  Arthur  Murphy,  p.  136.     Lond.,  1/92.     8vo. 

19 


146 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


with  which  one  is  desirous  to  see  his  character  invested.  Such  memorials  are  very 
well  for  the  family  of  the  departed  to  preserve;  but,  in  our  humble  opinion,  they 
are  totally  unfit  for  publication.  They  add  nothing  to  our  respect  for  the  Memory 
of  a  Great  Author.  The  Pocket-Book  Memoranda  of  the  most  eminent  men  are  not 
made  by  them,  at  least  very  seldom,  with  any  idea  of  their  being  printed  for  the 
amusement  of  a  class  of  readers  who  are  not  content  with  a  faithful  memoir  of  a 
great  man,  even  from  the  pen  of  a  distinguished  biographer.  Now-a-days  nothing 
suffices  to  create  an  interest  with  such  pampered  readers,  but  private  letters,  mid- 
night conversations,  and  all  sorts  of  absurd  trash1  frequently  published  under  the 
title  of  "Reminiscences."  Far  be  it  from  us,  however,  to  depreciate  that  class  of  litera- 
ture; for  there  are  few  who  have  not  found  it  a  relief  to  take  up  the  "Table  Talk" 
of  the  Learned  Antiquarian  Selden;  to  dip  into  a  volume  of  the  "Anecdotes  of 
Nichols"  and  other  works  of  a  similar  kind.  They  are  the  Storehouses  of  Informa- 
tion of  Past  Centuries.  While  they  delight  and  feed  the  imagination,  they  sow  the 
seeds  of  a  succession  of  intellectual  harvests ;  the  solace  of  life  at  that  period  when 
the  body  becoming  enfeebled,  gains,  by  so  charmingly  seductive  a  stimulus  to  the 
mind,  a  pleasurable  increase  of  physical  power. 

It  would  have  been  well  for  the  Memory  of  Milton  had  his  "Treatise  of 
Christian  Doctrine"  been  discovered  previous  to  that  period  when  Johnson,-  afflicted 
with  bodily  infirmities,  such  as  of  themselves  were  enough  to  overwhelm  his  mind 
with  dismal  thoughts  tending  to  affect  his  previously  biassed  feelings,- undertook,  as 
the  Biographer  of  the  Age,  to  convey  to  the  world  a  fair  and  unprejudiced  Memoir 
of  the  Life,  and  a  faithful  criticism  on  the  polemical,  political,  and  poetical  produc- 
tions of  Milton. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  tendency  of  the  religious  feelings  of  Milton  in  the 
earlier  portion  of  his  public  career,  there  are  certainly  no  passages  in  his  " Treat!*- 
of  Christian  Doctrine"  of  a  similar  character  to  those  found  in  the  published 


1  JOHNSON.  Surely  the  memory  of  Dr.  John- 
son is  not  enhanced  by  our  being  told,  that,  in 
1760,  he  resolved  "to  consult  the  resolves  on 
Tetty's  coffin," — "  to  drink  less  strong  liquors," 
— "  to  keep  a  journal ;" — 1761,  "  to  regulate  my 
sleep  as  to  length  and  choice  of  hours  ;" — 1762, 
to  "  return  to  my  studies," — "  rise  early," — 
"live  temperately;  " — 1764,  "  to  put  my  rooms 
in  order," — "  to  reject  or  expel  sensual  images 
and  idle  thoughts," — "  I  will  renew  my  reso- 
lutions made  at  Tetty's  death," — "  I  prayed  for 
Tett ;"— 1765,  "  at  Church  to  pray  for  Tetty  and 
the  rest;" — 1771,  "no  plan  of  study  has  been 
pursued  or  formed," — "I  have  neither  attempted 
nor  formed  any  scheme  of  life  by  which  I  may 
do  good,  and  please  God," — "I  have  gone  volun- 


tarily to  church  on  the  week  days  but  few  times 
in  my  life.  I  think  to  mend  ;"— 1772,  April  18, 
"  I  hope  to  read  the  whole  Bible  once  a  year,  as 
long  as  I  live," — "yesterday  I  fasted,  as  I  have 
always  or  commonly  done  since  the  death  of 
Tetty," — "I  cannot  now  fast  as  formerly  ;"- 
1779,  "part  of  the  Life  of  Dryden  and  the  Life 
of  Milton  have  been  written  ;  but  my  mind  has 
neither  been  improved  nor  enlarged.  I  have 
read  little,  almost  nothing.  And  I  am  not  con- 
scious that  I  have  gained  any  good,  or  quitted 
any  evil  habit ;"— Sunday,  March  17,  1782,  "I 
made  punch  for  myself  and  my  servants,  by 
which,  in  the  night,  I  thought  both  my  breast 
and  imagination  disordered." — "Prayers  and 
Meditations." 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON.  147 


"  Meditations"  of  Johnson,  touching  his  habitual  prayers  for  the  dead,  and  ceremonial 
fastings,- exercises  that  do  not  elevate  the  character  of  that  Great  Lexicographer. 
Had  Johnson  been  permitted  to  read  the  laborious  and  marvellously  composed 
"  System  of  Divinity"  from  the  deep-read  and  well-stored  theological  mind  of  the 
Poet,  he  would  probably  have  formed  a  very  different  opinion  of  the  religious  views 
of  that  man  whose  character  as  a  Christian  was  committed  to  his  laboured  and 
occasionally  bilious  pen  to  pourtray.  When  men  are  specially  employed  to  criticize 
the  works  and  weigh  the  acts  of  their  fellow  creatures,  they  ought  not  to  take  pen 
in  hand  when  suffering  under  bodily  pain. 


|T  is  not  for  us  to  venture  to  give  any  opinion  upon  the  merits  of 
the  Great  Theological  Work  by  Milton  here  under  consideration. 
It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  record,  that,  under  good  advice,  it 
was  deemed  worthy,  on  its  discovery,  to  be,  at  the  command  of 
His  MAJESTY  GEORGE  IV.,  translated  by  so  distinguished  a 
theologian  and  scholar  as  the  Eev.  Charles  E.  Sumner,  M.A.,  at 
that  time  Librarian  and  Historiographer  to  His  Majesty,  and 

Prebendary  of  Canterbury,  now  the  Right  Eeverend  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Winchester. 

Consequently,  we  think  that  the  interesting  Introduction  by  the  Author,  preceded  by 

an  extract  from  the  Preface  of  the  learned  translator,  will  not  be  considered  here  out 

of  place. 

"  It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  disqualifications  of  Milton  for  such  a  work  as  the  present, 
were  neither  few  nor  unimportant.  They  were  owing  partly  to  the  unhappy  circumstances  of  the 
period  at  which  he  lived,  and  partly  to  that  peculiar  disposition  of  mind  which  led  him  to  view  every 
surrender  of  individual  opinion,  whether  in  morals  or  politics,  as  an  infringement  on  the  rights  of 
natural  liberty.  In  his  time  power  was  abused,  under  pretence  of  religion,  in  a  degree  to  which, 
happily  for  genuine  Christianity,  the  ecclesiastical  annals  can  scarcely  afford  a  parallel ;  and  the 
universal  prevalence  of  an  intolerant  spirit,  from  which  his  own  connexions  as  well  as  himself  had 
suffered  severely,  disposed  him  to  look  with  an  unfavourable  eye,  not  only  upon  the  corruptions,  but 
on  the  doctrine  itself  and  discipline  of  the  church.  His  father  had  been  disinherited  for  embracing 
the  Protestant  faith.  He  himself  had  been  brought  up  under  a  Puritan  who  was  subsequently 
obliged  to  leave  England  on  account  of  his  religious  opinions,  Thomas  Young  of  Essex,  one  of  the 
six  answerers  of  Hall's  Humble  Remonstrance.  Hence  there  is  some  foundation  for  the  remark  of 
Hayley.  that  Milton  '  wrote  with  the  indignant  enthusiasm  of  a  man  resenting  the  injuries  of  those 
who  are  most  entitled  to  his  love  and  veneration.  The  ardour  of  his  affections  conspired  with 
the  warmth  of  his  fancy  to  inspire  him  with  that  puritanical  zeal  which  blazes  so  intensely  in  his 
controversial  productions.'  Thus  it  was  that,  like  Clarke,  though  on  different  grounds,  he  was 
biassed  against  the  authority  of  the  church,  and  predisposed  by  the  political  constitution  of  his  mind 
to  such  unbounded  freedom  as  can  hardly  consist,  as  has  been  truly  said,  with  any  established  system 
of  faith  whatever.  His  love  of  Christian  liberty  began,  indeed,  to  manifest  itself  at  a  very  early 
period  of  his  life,  for  though  destined  to  the  church  from  his  childhood,  he  refused  to  enter  it  from  a 
religious  scruple,  thinking  that  'he  who  took  orders  must  subscribe  slave.' " 


148 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


"JOHN    MILTON, 

TO  ALL  THE   CHURCHES   OF   CHRIST, 

AND    TO   ALL 

WHO   PROFESS  THE   CHRISTIAN   FAITH   THROUGHOUT  THE   WORLD, 
PEACE,  AND  THE   RECOGNITION   OF  THE   TRUTH, 

AND  ETERNAL   SALVATION 
IN   GOD  THE   FATHER,  AND   IN  OUR  LORD  JESUS   CHRIST. 

|  INGE  the  commencement  of  the  last  century,  when  religion  began  to  be  restored  from 
the  corruptions  of  more  than  thirteen  hundred  years  to  something  of  its  original 
purity,  many  treatises  of  theology  have  been  published,  conducted  according  to 
sounder  principles,  wherein  the  chief  heads  of  Christian  doctrine  are  set  forth  some- 
times briefly,  sometimes  in  a  more  enlarged  and  methodical  order.  I  think  myself 
obliged,  therefore,  to  declare  in  the  first  instance  why,  if  any  works  have  already 
appeared  as  perfect  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  will  admit,  I  have  not  remained  contented  with  them 
— or,  if  all  my  predecessors  have  treated  it  unsuccessfully,  why  their  failure  has  not  deterred  me 
from  attempting  an  undertaking  of  a  similar  kind. 

"If  I  were  to  say  that  I  had  devoted  myself  to  the  study  of  the  Christian  religion  bt'rntisr. 
nothing  else  can  so  effectually  rescue  the  lives  and  minds  of  men  from  those  two  detestable  curses, 
slavery  and  superstition,  I  should  seem  to  have  acted  rather  from  a  regard  to  my  highest  earthly 
comforts,  than  from  a  religious  motive. 

"  But  since  it  is  only  to  the  individual  faith  of  each  that  the  Deity  has  opened  the  way  of  eternal 
salvation,  and  as  he  requires  that  he  who  would  be  saved  should  have  a  personal  belief  of  his  own, 
I  resolved  not  to  repose  on  the  faith  or  judgment  of  others  in  matters  relating  to  God ;  but  on  the 
one  hand,  having  taken  the  grounds  of  my  faith  from  divine  revelation  alone,  and  on  the  other, 
having  neglected  nothing  which  depended  on  my  own  industry,  I  thought  fit  to  scrutinize  and 
ascertain  for  myself  the  several  points  of  my  religious  belief,  by  the  most  careful  perusal  and 
meditation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  themselves. 

"  If,  therefore,  I  mention  what  has  proved  beneficial  in  my  own  practice,  it  is  in  the  hope  that 
others,  who  have  a  similar  wish  of  improving  themselves,  may  be  thereby  invited  to  pursue  the  same 
method.  I  entered  upon  an  assiduous  course  of  study  in  my  youth,  beginning  with  the  books  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament  in  their  original  languages,  and  going  diligently  through  a  few  of  the 
shorter  systems  of  divines,  in  imitation  of  whom  I  was  in  the  habit  of  classing  under  certain  heads 
whatever  passages  of  Scripture  occurred  for  extraction,  to  be  made  use  of  hereafter  as  occasion  might 
require.  At  length  I  resorted  with  increased  confidence  to  some  of  the  more  copious  theological 
treatises,  and  to  the  examination  of  the  arguments  advanced  by  the  conflicting  parties  respecting 
certain  disputed  points  of  faith.  But,  to  speak  the  truth  with  freedom  as  well  as  candour,  I  was 
concerned  to  discover  in  many  instances  adverse  reasonings  either  evaded  by  wretched  shifts, 
or  attempted  to  be  refuted,  rather  speciously  than  with  solidity,  by  an  affected  display  of  formal 
sophisms,  or  by  a  constant  recourse  to  the  quibbles  of  the  grammarians ;  while  what  was  most 
pertinaciously  espoused  as  the  true  doctrine,  seemed  often  defended,  with  more  vehemence  than 
strength  of  argument,  by  misconstructions  of  Scripture,  or  by  the  hasty  deduction  of  erroneous 
inferences.  Owing  to  these  causes,  the  truth  was  sometimes  as  strenuously  opposed  as  if  it  had  been 
an  error  or  a  heresy — -while  errors  and  heresies  were  substituted  for  the  truth,  and  valued  rather 
from  deference  to  custom  and  the  spirit  of  party  than  from  the  authority  of  Scripture. 

"  According  to  my  judgment,  therefore,  neither  my  creed  nor  my  hope  of  salvation  could  be 
safely  trusted  to  such  guides;  and  yet  it  appeared  highly  requisite  to  possess  some  methodical 
tractate  of  Christian  doctrine,  or  at  least  to  attempt  such  a  disquisition  as  might  be  useful  in 
establishing  my  faith  or  assisting  my  memory.  I  deemed  it  therefore  safest  and  most  advisable  to 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


149 


compile  for  myself,  by  my  own  labour  and  study,  some  original  treatise  which  should  be  always  at 
hand,  derived  solely  from  the  word  of  God  itself,  and  executed  with  all  possible  fidelity,  seeing  that 
I  could  have  no  wish  to  practise  any  imposition  on  myself  in  such  a  matter. 

"  After  a  diligent  perseverance  in  this  plan  for  several  years,  I  perceived  that  the  strongholds 
of  the  reformed  religion  were  sufficiently  fortified,  as  far  as  it  was  in  danger  from  the  Papists, — but 
neglected  in  many  other  quarters ;  neither  competently  strengthened  with  works  of  defence,  nor 
adequately  provided  with  champions.  It  was  also  evident  to  me,  that,  in  religion  as  in  other  things, 
the  offers  of  God  were  all  directed,  not  to  an  indolent  credulity,  but  to  constant  diligence,  and  to  an 
unwearied  search  after  truth  ;  and  that  more  than  I  was  aware  of  still  remained,  which  required  to 
be  more  rigidly  examined  by  the  rule  of  Scripture,  and  reformed  after  a  more  accurate  model.  I  so 
far  satisfied  myself  in  the  prosecution  of  this  plan  as  at  length  to  trust  that  I  had  discovered,  with 
regard  to  religion,  what  was  matter  of  belief,  and  what  only  matter  of  opinion.  It  was  also  a  great 
solace  to  me  to  have  compiled,  by  God's  assistance,  a  precious  aid  for  my  faith — or  rather  to  have 
laid  up  for  myself  a  treasure  which  would  be  a  provision  for  my  future  life,  and  would  remove  from 
my  mind  all  grounds  for  hesitation,  as  often  as  it  behoved  me  to  render  an  account  of  the  principles 
of  my  belief. 

"  If  I  communicate  the  result  of  my  inquiries  to  the  world  at  large  ;  if,  as  God  is  my  witness, 
it  be  with  a  friendly  and  benignant  feeling  towards  mankind,  that  I  readily  give  as  wide  a  circulation 
as  possible  to  what  I  esteem  my  best  and  richest  possession,  I  hope  to  meet  with  a  candid  reception 
from  all  parties,  and  that  none  at  least  will  take  unjust  offence,  even  though  many  things  should  be 
brought  to  light  which  will  at  once  be  seen  to  differ  from  certain  received  opinions.  I  earnestly 
beseech  all  lovers  of  truth,  not  to  cry  out  that  the  Church  is  thrown  into  confusion  by  that  freedom 
of  discussion  and  inquiry  which  is  granted  to  the  schools,  and  ought  certainly  to  be  refused  to  no 
believer,  since  we  are  ordered  to  prove  all  things,  and  since  the  daily  progress  of  the  light  of  truth 
is  productive  far  less  of  disturbance  to  the  Church,  than  of  illumination  and  edification.  Nor  do  I 
see  how  the  Church  can  be  more  disturbed  by  the  investigation  of  truth,  than  were  the  Gentiles  by 
the  first  promulgation  of  the  gospel ;  since  so  far  from  recommending  or  imposing  anything  on  my 
own  authority,  it  is  my  particular  advice  that  every  one  should  suspend  his  opinion  on  whatever 
points  he  may  not  feel  himself  fully  satisfied,  till  the  evidence  of  Scripture  prevail,  and  persuade  his 
reason  into  assent  and  faith.  Concealment  is  not  my  object ;  it  is  to  the  learned  that  I  address 
myself,  or  if  it  be  thought  that  the  learned  are  not  the  best  umpires  and  judges  of  such  things, 
I  should  at  least  wish  to  submit  my  opinions  to  men  of  a  mature  and  manly  understanding, 
possessing  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel ;  on  whose  judgments  I  should  rely 
with  far  more  confidence,  than  on  those  of  novices  in  these  matters.  And  whereas  the  greater  part 
of  those  who  have  written  most  largely  on  these  subjects  have  been  wont  to  fill  whole  pages  with 
explanations  of  their  own  opinions,  thrusting  into  the  margin  the  texts  in  support  of  their  doctrine 
with  a  summary  reference  to  the  chapter  and  verse,  I  have  chosen,  on  the  contrary,  to  fill  my 
pages  even  to  redundance  with  quotations  from  Scripture,  that  so  as  little  space  as  possible  might 
be  left  for  my  own  words,  even  when  they  arise  from  the  context  of  revelation  itself. 

"  It  has  also  been  my  object  to  make  it  appear  from  the  opinions  I  shall  be  found  to  have 
advanced,  whether  new  or  old,  of  how  much  consequence  to  the  Christian  religion  is  the  liberty  not 
only  of  winnowing  and  sifting  every  doctrine,  but  also  of  thinking  and  even  writing  respecting  it, 
according  to  our  individual  faith  and  persuasion ;  an  inference  which  will  be  stronger  in  proportion 
to  the  weight  and  importance  of  those  opinions,  or  rather  in  proportion  to  the  authority  of  Scripture, 
on  the  abundant  testimony  of  which  they  rest.  Without  this  liberty  there  is  neither  religion  nor 
gospel — force  alone  prevails, — by  which  it  is  disgraceful  for  the  Christian  religion  to  be  supported. 
Without  this  liberty  we  are  still  enslaved,  not  indeed,  as  formerly,  under  the  divine  law,  but,  what 
is  worst  of  all,  under  the  law  of  man,  or  to  speak  more  truly,  under  a  barbarous  tyranny.  But  I  do 
not  expect  from  candid  and  judicious  readers  a  conduct  so  unworthy  of  them, — that,  like  certain 
unjust  and  foolish  men,  they  should  stamp  with  the  invidious  name  of  heretic  or  heresy  whatever 


150 


1IAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


appears  to  them  to  differ  from  the  received  opinions,  without  trying  the  doctrine  by  a  comparison 
with  Scripture  testimonies.  According  to  their  notions,  to  have  branded  any  one  at  random  with 
this  opprobrious  mark,  is  to  have  refuted  him  without  any  trouble,  by  a  single  word.  By  the 
simple  imputation  of  the  name  of  heretic,  they  think  that  they  have  dispatched  their  man  at  one 
blow.  To  men  of  this  kind  I  answer,  that  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles,  ere  the  New  Testament  was 
written,  whenever  the  charge  of  heresy  was  applied  as  a  term  of  reproach,  that  alone  was  considered 
as  heresy  which  was  at  variance  with  their  doctrine  orally  delivered, — and  that  those  only  were 
looked  upon  as  heretics,  who,  according  to  Rom.  rvi.,  17,  18,  catted  divisions  and  offences  cai^ninj  /<> 

tJte  doctrine  of  the  apostles serving  not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  their  own  belli/.  By  parity  of 

reasoning  therefore,  since  the  compilation  of  the  New  Testament,  I  maintain  that  nothing  but  what 
is  in  contradiction  to  it  can  properly  be  called  heresy. 

"  For  my  own  part,  I  adhere  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  alone — I  follow  no  other  heresy  or  sect. 
I  had  not  even  read  any  of  the  works  of  heretics,  so  called,  when  the  mistakes  of  those  who  are 
reckoned  for  orthodox,  and  their  incautious  handling  of  Scripture,  first  taught  me  to  agree  with 
their  opponents  whenever  those  opponents  agreed  with  Scripture.  If  this  be  heresy,  I  confess  with 
St.  Paul,  Acts  xxiv.,  14,  that  after  the  way  which  they  call  heresy,  so  worship  I  the  God  of  rny  fathers, 
believing  all  things  which  are  written  in  the  law  and  the  propJiets — to  which  I  ADD,  WHATEVER  is  WRITTEN 
IN  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.  ANY  OTHER  JUDGES  OR  CHIEF  INTERPRETERS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  BELIEF, 
TOGETHER  WITH  ALL  IMPLICIT  FAITH,  AS  IT  IS  CALLED,  I,  IN  COMMON  WITH  THE  WHOLE  PROTESTANT  CHURCH, 
EEFUSE  TO  EECOGNIZE. 

"  For  the  rest,  brethren,  cultivate  truth  with  brotherly  love.  Judge  of  my  present  undertaking 
according  to  the  admonishing  of  the  Spirit  of  God — and  neither  adopt  my  sentiments,  nor  reject 
them,  unless  every  doubt  has  been  removed  from  your  belief  by  the  clear  testimony  of  revelation. 
Finally,  live  in  the  faith  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  Farewell." 

Who  that  reads  this  Introduction  from  the  pen  of  Milton,  can  fail  to  be  struck 
with  the  total  absence  of  that  remarkably  acrimonious  spirit  of  controversy  which 
characterizes  most  of  his  other  prose  Avritings;  or,  with  the  extreme  candour  with 
which  he  appeals  to  the  reason  and  judgment  of  his  reader,  and  beseeches  him  to 
approach  the  subject  with  a  teachable  spirit,- like  the  good  Bereans  of  old,- to 
search  the  Scriptures  whether  these  things  are  so,  and  to  believe  and  practise 
nothing  that  they  do  not  teach.  Such  also  is  the  language  the  Church  of  England 
addresses,  in  her  Articles,  to  those  who  are  in  communion  with  her,  a  Church  which, 
in  his  polemical  Treatises,  Milton  had  laboured  to  malign.  The  work  itself,  notwith- 
standing the  high  patronage  under  which  it  was  brought  before  the  public,  and 
the  able  Translation  of  Bishop  Sumner,  which  makes  it  accessible  to  the  English 
reader,  has  not  been  duly  appreciated ;  nor  has,  we  believe,  the  system  of  divinity 
which  it  promulgates,  been  adopted  by  any  Sect  of  Christians. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON. 


151 


HE  Review  of  THE  TREATISE  OF  CHRISTIAN  DOCTRINE  in  the 
"Edinburgh  Revieiv,"  August  1825,  forms  the  first  of  the  series 
of  Essays  written  by  the  late  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  THOMAS 
BABINGTON,  LORD  MACAULAY. 

"  The  book  itself,"  quaintly  observes  the  Historian, "  will  not 
add  much  to  the  fame  of  Milton."  Macaulay,  however,  takes  up 
the  weaker  points  of  the  work.  He  reviews  the  "heterodox 
doctrines"  of  Milton  in  respect  to  the  subject  of  Polygamy  and  the  Observance  of  the 
Sabbath,  with  much  severity.  How  far  Macaulay  was  competent  to  decide  on  the 
merits  of  a  theological  work  of  so  much  learning,  we  do  not  ourselves  attempt  to 
give  an  opinion.  We  do  not  think  the  Venerable  Bishop  Sumner  agreed  with  the 
off-hand  manner  in  which  the  noble  Historian  dismissed  all  further  notice  of  the 
work  by  observing  :  "  The  men  of  our  time  are  not  to  be  converted  or  perverted  by 
quartos.  A  few  more  days,  and  this  Essay  will  follow  the  'Defensio  Populi'  to  the 
dust  and  silence  of  the  upper  shelf.  The  name  of  its  author,  and  the  remarkable 
circumstances  attending  its  publication,  will  secure  to  it  a  certain  degree  of  attention. 
For  a  month  or  two  it  will  occupy  a  few  minutes  of  chat  in  every  drawing-room,  and 
a  few  columns  in  every  magazine ;  and  it  will  then,  to  borrow  the  elegant  language 
of  the  playbills,  be  withdrawn,  to  make  room  for  the  forthcoming  novelties." 

Macaulay,  however,  did  not  even  give  the  subject  of  the  work  afeiv  columns  in 
the  Edinburgh  Review,  but  merely  made  it  the  medium  of  an  "  ESSAY  ON  MILTON," 
for  which  his  powerful  pen  was  much  better  fitted  than  to  discuss  the  arguments  of  a 
theological  discourse.  "  We  intend,"  writes  Macaulay,  "to  take  advantage  of  the  late 
interesting  discovery,1  and,  while  this  memorial  of  a  great  and  good  man  is  still  in 
the  hands  of  all,  to  say  something  of  his  moral  and  intellectual  qualities.  Nor,  we 
are  convinced,  will  the  severest  of  our  readers  blame  us,  if,  on  an  occasion  like  the 
present,  we  turn  for  a  short  time  from  the  topics  of  the  day,  to  commemorate,  in  all 
love  and  reverence,  the  genius  and  virtues  of  John  Milton,  the  poet,  the  statesman, 
the  philosopher,  the  glory  of  English  Literature,  the  champion  and  the  martyr  of 
English  Liberty." 

While  venerating  the  name  of  Milton,  it  appears  strange  that  Macaulay  should 
have  ventured  to  condemn  a  work  which  the  author  himself  had  predicted  "  would 
perpetuate  his  name  to  posterity."  Macaulay  was  no  great  theologian.  He  admired 
Milton  as  a  public  man,  and  justifies  the  part  he  took  in  the  Great  Rebellion. 
Though  disapproving  of  "  the  execution  of  Charles,"  and  "  of  the  conduct  of  the 
Regicides,"  the  Historian  adds,  "That  [the  conduct]  of  Milton  appears  to  us  in  a 


1  Alluding  to  the  manner  in  which  the  original  manuscript  of  the  Treatise  had  been  discovered 
in  the  State  Paper  Office. 


KA.MUIJNGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


very  different  light.  The  deed  was  done.  It  could  not  be  undone.  The  evil  was 
incurred  ;  and  the  object  was  to  render  it  as  small  as  possible."  The  learned 
Macaulay  here  forgot  that  the  powerful  pen  of  Milton  had  been  employed  as  a  fire- 
brand to  inflame  the  spirit  of  rebellion.  Hence  Milton  had  as  much  to  answer 
for  as  any  one  of  the  Regicides.  Indeed,  more  so.  Some  of  them  were  compelled 
by  their  master,  Cromwell,  to  sign  the  wan-ant  for  the  execution  of  their  king.  The 
writings  of  Milton  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  voluntary.  So  also  was  his  Justification 
of  the  Decapitation  of  the,  unhappily,  Hen-pecked  Monarch.  The  denial,  by  Milton, 
of  his  having  ever  received  any  remuneration  at  the  hand  of  Cromwell,  or  from  the 
State,  for  that  piece  of  special  pleading,  justifies  the  opinion,  that  the  task  of  excul- 
pating his  master  was  self-imposed,  though  under  the  semblance  of  a  command  ! 

The  learned  Macaulay,  after  reviewing  the  characters  of  the  Puritans,  the  Inde- 
pendents, and  the  Royalists,  sums  up  the  political  character  of  Milton  by  stating 

"  He  was  not  a  Puritan.  He  was  not  a  Freethinker.  He  was  not  a  Royalist.  In  his  character 
the  noblest  qualities  of  every  party  were  combined  in  harmonious  union.  From  the  Parliament  and 
from  the  Court,  from  the  conventicle  and  from  the  gothic  cloister,  from  the  gloomy  and  sepulchral 
circles  of  the  Roundheads,  and  from  the  Christmas  revel  of  the  hospitable  Cavalier,  his  nature 
selected  and  drew  to  itself  whatever  was  great  and  good,  while  it  rejected  all  the  base  and  pernicious 
ingredients  by  which  those  finer  elements  were  defiled.  Like  the  Puritans,  he  lived 

'As  ever  in  his  great  task-master's  eye.' 

Like  them,  he  kept  his  mind  continually  fixed  on  an  Almighty  Judge  and  an  eternal  reward. 
And  hence  he  acquired  their  contempt  of  external  circumstances,  their  fortitude,  their  tranquillity, 
their  inflexible  resolution.  But  not  the  coolest  sceptic  or  the  most  profane  scoffer  was  more 
perfectly  free  from  the  contagion  of  their  frantic  delusions,  their  savage  manners,  their  ludicrous 
jargon,  their  scorn  of  science,  and  their  aversion  to  pleasure.  Hating  tyranny  with  a  perfect  hatred, 
he  had  nevertheless  all  the  estimable  and  ornamental  qualities  which  were  almost  entirely 
monopolised  by  the  party  of  the  tyrant.  There  was  none  who  had  a  stronger  sense  of  the  value  of 
Literature,  a  finer  relish  for  every  elegant  amusement,  or  a  more  chivalrous  delicacy  of  honour  and 
love.  Though  his  opinions  were  democratic,  his  tastes  and  his  associations  were  such  as  harmonise 
best  with  monarchy  and  aristocracy.  He  was  under  the  influence  of  all  the  feelings  by  which  the 
gallant  Cavaliers  were  misled.  But  of  those  feelings  he  was  the  master  and  not  the  slave." 

In  vindicating  the  character  of  Milton  from  much  apparent  inconsistency  in  his 
political  life,  Macaulay  considers  that  this  very  inconsistency  entitles  him  to  great 
praise,  "  because  it  shews  how  many  private  tastes  and  feelings  he  sacrificed  in  order 
to  do  what  he  considered  his  duty  to  mankind.  It  is  the  very  struggle  of  the  noble 
Othello."  The  learned  Historian  closes  his  powerfully  written  "  Essay  on  Milton" 
with  the  subjoined,- language  not  more  beautiful  or  more  eulogistic  than  deserved  : 

E  must  conclude.  And  yet  we  can  scarcely  tear  ourselves  away  from  the  subject. 
The  days  immediately  following  the  publication  of  this  relic  of  Milton  appear  to  be 
peculiarly  set  apart,  and  consecrated  to  his  memory.  And  we  shall  scarcely  be 
censured  if,  on  this  his  festival,  we  be  found  lingering  near  his  shrine,  how 
worthless  soever  may  be  the  offering  which  we  bring  to  it.  While  this  book  lies 
on  our  table,  we  seem  to  be  contemporaries  of  the  writer.  We  are  transported 

a  hundred  and  fifty  years  back.    We  can  almost  fancy  that  we  are  visiting  him  in  his  small  lodging; 

that  we  see  him  sitting  at  the  old  organ  beneath  the  faded  green  hangings  ;  that  we  can  catch  the 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


153 


quick  twinkle  of  his  eyes,  rolling  in  vain  to  find  the  day ;  that  we  are  reading  in  the  lines  of  his 
noble  countenance  the  proud  and  mournful  history  of  his  glory  and  his  affliction.  We  image  to 
ourselves  the  breathless  silence  in  which  we  should  listen  to  his  slightest  word,  the  passionate 
veneration  with  which  we  should  kneel  to  kiss  his  hand  and  weep  upon  it,  the  earnestness  with 
which  we  should  endeavour  to  console  him,  if  indeed  such  a  spirit  could  need  consolation,  for  the 
neglect  of  an  age  unworthy  of  his  talents  and  his  virtues,  the  eagerness  with  which  we  should 
contest  with  his  daughters,  or  with  his  Quaker  friend  Elwood,  the  privilege  of  reading  Homer  to  him, 
or  of  taking  down  the  immortal  accents  which  flowed  from  his  lips. 

"  These  are  perhaps  foolish  feelings.  Yet  we  cannot  be  ashamed  of  them ;  nor  shall  we  be 
sorry  if  what  we  have  written  shall  in  any  degree  excite  them  in  other  minds.  We  are  not  much  in 
the  habit  of  idolising  either  the  living  or  the  dead.  And  we  think  that  there  is  no  more  certain 
indication  of  a  weak  and  ill-regulated  intellect  than  that  propensity  which,  for  want  of  a  better  name, 
we  will  venture  to  christen  Boswellism.  But  there  are  a  few  characters  which  have  stood  the 
closest  scrutiny  and  the  severest  tests,  which  have  been  tried  in  the  furnace  and  have  proved  pure, 
which  have  been  weighed  in  the  balance  and  have  not  been  found  wanting,  which  have  been 
declared  sterling  by  the  general  consent  of  mankind,  and  which  are  visibly  stamped  with  the  image 
and  superscription  of  the  Most  High.  These  great  men  we  trust  that  we  know  how  to  prize ;  and 
of  these  was  Milton.  The  sight  of  his  books,  the  sound  of  his  name,  are  pleasant  to  us.  His 
thoughts  resemble  those  celestial  fruits  and  flowers  which  the  Virgin  Martyr  of  Massinger  sent  down 
from  the  gardens  of  Paradise  to  the  earth,  and  which  were  distinguished  from  the  productions  of 
other  soils,  not  only  by  superior  bloom  and  sweetness,  but  by  miraculous  efficacy  to  invigorate  and  to 
heal.  They  are  powerful,  not  only  to  delight,  but  to  elevate  and  purify.  Nor  do  we  envy  the  man 
who  can  study  either  the  life  or  the  writings  of  the  great  poet  and  patriot,  without  aspiring  to 
emulate,  not  indeed  the  sublime  works  with  which  his  genius  has  enriched  our  literature,  but  the 
zeal  with  which  he  laboured  for  the  public  good,  the  fortitude  with  which  he  endured  every  private 
calamity,  the  lofty  disdain  with  which  he  looked  down  on  temptations  and  dangers,  the  deadly  hatred 
which  he  bore  to  bigots  and  tyrants,  and  the  faith  which  he  so  sternly  kept  with  his  country  and 
with  his  fame." 


20 


154 


BAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


THE   AUTOGRAPH    OF   THE    "DE    DOCTRINA   CHRISTIANA" 

CONSIDERED. 


HILE  making  researches  at  the  State  Paper  Office,  Mr.  Lemon  did 
us  the  favour  of  placing  in  our  hands  the  correspondence  of  his 
Father  with  Bishop  Sumner  and  the  late  Archdeacon  Todd,  that 
took  place  on  the  discovery  of  the  Manuscript,-during  the  period 
it  was  undergoing  translation,  and  also  subsequent  to  its  publi- 
cation,-together  with  statements  connected  therewith. 

The  correspondence  with  Archdeacon  Todd  bears  princi- 
pally upon  the  Powell  Family  Documents,  and  the  Entries  in  the  Order-Book  of  the 
Council  of  State  in  the  State  Paper  Office,  minute  details  of  which,  and  accurate 
copies  of  the  documents,  were  forwarded  by  the  late  Mr.  Lemon,  with  the  view  of 
affording  information  for  the  new  edition  of  the  Life  of  Milton,  on  which  Archdeacon 
Todd  was  then  engaged. 

It  would  have  been  but  justice  to  the  late  Mr.  Lemon,  had  Archdeacon  Todd 
printed  all  those  documents  in  the  careful  and  strict  chronological  order  in  which 
they  were  communicated  to  him.  Had  he  done  so,  Mr.  W.  Douglas  Hamilton  would 
have  been  spared  the  observation,  in  the  preface  to  his  valuable  contribution  to  the 
Catnden  Society,1  that  "He"  [Dr.  Todd]  "  was  only  acquainted  with  a  tithe  of  the 
materials  here  collected,  so  that  his  conclusions  were  not  always  correct." 

"MILTON'S  POSTHUMOUS  WOKK." 

RHIS  valuable  Manuscript  is  presumed  to  be  the  long  lost  posthumous 
Theological  Work  of  Milton.  It  was  discovered  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  year  1823,  by  Mr.  Lemon,  Sen.,  Deputy  Keeper  of  His  Majesty's 
State  Papers;  and  was  found  by  him  at  the  bottom  of  one  of  the 
Presses  in  the  Old  State  Paper  Office,  in  the  middle  Treasury  Gallery. 
It  was  wrapped  in  two  or  three  sheets  of  printed  paper,  apparently  Proof  Sheets; 
and  the  outside  cover  was  a  piece  of  torn,  dirty  brown  paper,  on  which  was  written, 
'To  Mr.  Skinner,  Merck*.'  This  direction  appears  completely  to  identify  this 
important  Document  with  that  mentioned  in  Dr.  Symmons's  Edition  of  Milton's 
Prose  Works,  1806,  vol.  vii.,  p.  500:  'An  Answer  to  a  Libel  on  himself,  and  a 
System  of  Theology,  called,  according  to  Wood,  '  Idea  Theologies,'  are  compositions 


Original  Papers  relating  to  Milton  in  the  State  Paper  Office.     1859. 


THE    AUTOGEAPH    OF    MILTON. 


155 


of  Milton  which  have  been  lost.     The  last  was  at  one  time  in  the  hands  of  Cyriae 
Skinner;  but  what  became  of  it  afterwards  has  not  been  traced. 


"January  1824. 


ROBT  LEMON,  Deputy  Keeper  of  State  Papers." 


"  The  undersigned  Gentlemen,  Clerks  in  His  Majesty's  State  Paper  Office,  attest 
the  correctness  of  the  above  description,  the  state  in  which  the  Manuscript 
was  found,  and  the  direction  on  the  outside  wrapper. 

"  CHARLES  LECHMERE, 
"  January  1824.  ROBT.  LEMON,  JUNE." 

At  the  same  period  that  a  copy  of  the  preceding  document  was  transmitted  to 
Bishop  Sumner  by  the  late  Mr.  Lemon,  he  forwarded  a  more  lengthened  "Account 
of  the  recently  discovered  Posthumous  Work  of  John  Milton";  the  whole  of  which  is 
given,  though  disjoined,  by  Bishop  Sumner  in  the  "Preliminary  Observations"  to  his 
Translation  of  the  Work.  In  that  account  Mr.  Lemon  writes  : 

"  It" — the  manuscript, — "  was  found  at  the  bottom  of  one  of  the  presses  at  the  end  of  the  room 
(together  with  a  great  number  of  original  letters,  informations,  examinations,  and  other  documents 
relative  to  the  Popish  Plots  in  1677  and  1678,  and  to  the  Eye  House  Plot  in  1683)  wrapped  up  in 
two  or  three  sheets  of  printed  paper  ;  in  which  was  also  a  complete  and  corrected  copy  of  the  whole 
of  the  Latin  letters1  to  Foreign  Princes  and  States,  written  by  Milton  during  the  period  in  which 


1  It  is  due  to  the  diligent  and  careful  research 
of  the  late  Mr.  Lemon  to  mention  that  the  copies 
of  the  STATE  LETTERS  were  most  thoroughly 
examined  and  collated  by  him  soon  after  their 
discovery,  as  shewn  in  the  subjoined  letter : 

"  State  Paper  Office,  1827. 

"  MY  LORD, — I  have  the  honour  to  inform  your 
Lordship  that  I  have  finished  the  collation  of 
the  printed  edition  of  Milton's  Letters  with  the 
Manuscript  Collection  in  this  Office,  and  now 
beg  leave  to  submit  the  following  observations 
to  your  Lordship's  consideration,  as  some  of  the 
results  which  may  be  drawn  from  the  collation. 
"  In  the  MS.  collection  are  to  be  found  four- 
teen letters  which  do  not  appear  in  the  printed 
book,  viz.  : 

"  4  to  the  King  of  France, 
1  to  the  King  of  Sweden, 

1  to  the  King  of  Spain, 

2  to  Cardinal  Mazarin, 
1  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 

4  to  the  Great  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and 
1  from  the  Protector  to  all  Kings,  Princes, 
States,  &c.,  professing  the  Protestant 
Eeligion. 
14 


"  In  the  printed  book  [Leipsic  Edition,  1690], 
thirteen  Letters  and  Papers  occur,  which  are 
not  introduced  in  the  MS.  collection.  These 
consist  of: 

"  2  Letters  to  the  City  of  Hamburg, 


to  the  Queen  of  Sweden, 
to  the  King  of  Denmark, 
to  the  G.  Duke  of  Tuscy, 
to  the  Doge  of  Venice, 
to  the  Spanish  Legate. 


"  The  papers  consist  of  the  Answer  of  the 
Council  of  State  to  the  Danish  Ministers ;  Eeply 
of  the  Co.  of  State  to  the  Ansr  of  the  Danish 
Ministers ;  Account  of  the  Losses  which  the 
E.  I.  C.  have  sustained  from  the  D.  J.  E. ;  Ac- 
count of  the  particular  Damages  sustained  by 
the  E.  I.  C.  Making  altogether,  between  the 
two  collections,  a  discrepancy  of  twenty-three 
Letters  in  the  papers  above  mentioned. 

"  From  this  great  variance,  it  may  be  conjec- 
tured that  the  compilers  of  the  two  Collections 
derived  their  materials  from  different  sources; 
and  the  internal  evidence  of  the  Letters  will 
confirm  this  supposition ;  for  though  the  MS. 

20  2 


156 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


he  held  the  office  of  Latin  Secretary  to  the  Council  of  State,  and  the  whole  was  enclosed  in  a  sheet 
of  torn,  dirty  brown  paper,  on  which  was  written,  '  To  Mr.  Skinner,  Merchant.' " 

As  the  chief  object  of  our  research  is  the  elucidation  of  the  autograph  in  which 
the  volume  is  written,  we  quote  only  that  portion  of  the  statement  of  Mr.  Lemon 
which  bears  upon  the  subject  : 

"  The  manuscript,"  writes  Mr.  Lemon,  "  consists  of  735  pages,  closely  written  on  small  quarto 
letter  paper.  The  first  Part,  as  far  as  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  first  Book,  is  in  a  small  beautiful 
Italian  hand,  and  is  evidently  a  fair  corrected  copy,  prepared  for  the  press,  without  interlineations 
of  any  kind,  which  is  supposed,  from  the  similarity  of  character,  to  have  been  written  by  MAKY,  the 
second  daughter  of  Milton,  who  is  reported  to  have  possessed  extraordinary  literary  attainments,  con- 
sidering the  period  in  which  she  lived.  The  remainder  of  the  manuscript  is  in  an  entirely  different  hand, 
being  a  small,  strong  character,  much  resembling  the  writing  of  E.  PHILLIPS,  one  of  Milton's  nephews. 
This  part  of  the  manuscript  is  interspersed  with  very  numerous  interlineations  and  corrections, 
and  in  several  places  with  small  pieces  of  writing  pasted  in,  which  corrections  are  in  two  distinct 
handwritings,  different  from  the  body  of  the  manuscript,  but  the  greater  part  of  them  are  decidedly 
written  by  the  same  person  who  transcribed  the  first  part  of  the  volume.  It  is,  therefore, 
conjectured  that  the  latter  part  of  the  manuscript  is  a  copy  transcribed  by  E.  PUIM.IPS,  and  finally 
revised  and  corrected  by  MARY  and  DEBOEAH  MILTON  from  the  dictation  of  their  father,  as  a  great 
number  of  the  interlineations  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  ascertained  handwriting  of  DEBORAH, 
the  youngest  daughter  of  Milton,  in  the  manuscripts  deposited  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  who 
is  stated  by  Wood  (Fasti  Oxon.,  Part.  1,  1635,  col.  683)  to  have  been  trained  up  by  her  father  in 
Latin  and  Greek  and  made  by  him  his  amanuensis." 

In  this  account  of  the  Manuscript  by  Mr.  Lemon,  dated  "January  1824,"  he 
appears  to  have  followed  the  opinion  of  Wood,  that  it  was  CYRIAC  SKINNER  to  whom 
Milton  had  entrusted  the  Documents  just  brought  to  light. 

In  the  "Preliminary  Observations"  to  his  translation  of  the  "De  Doctrind 
Christiand,"  Bishop  Sumner  does  not  appear  to  have  formed  any  opinion  of  his  own 
as  to  the  identification  of  the  Autograph  of  the  Manuscript  with  that  of  any  of  the 
persons  who  were  connected  with,  or  in  the  confidence  of  Milton.  The  learned 


collection  has  evidently  been  prepared  for  the 
press  in  a  hurried  and  slovenly  manner,  and 
abounding  in  verbal  and  literal  errors,  yet 
many  of  the  variations  are  of  that  nature  as  to 
be  impossible  to  have  arisen  from  mere  negli- 
gence or  indolence.  The  titles  of  the  persons 
and  states  to  whom  the  Letters  are  addressed, 
as  well  as  the  ordinary  conclusions  of  the  Let- 
ters, are  generally  set  forth  in  the  printed  book, 
and  never  in  the  MS. ;  and  frequently  the  names 
of  persons  in  the  capacities  of  ambassadors, 
agents,  merchants,  etc.,  are  mentioned  in  the 
former,  and  not  in  the  latter,  and  vice  versa. 
Several  dates  to  the  Letters,  which  are  omitted 
in  the  printed  book,  are  fortunately  supplied  in 
the  MS. 


"  I  beg  to  assure  your  Lordship  that  the  col- 
lation has  been  made  with  great  exactness  ; 
and  every  variation,  however  trivial,  distinctly 
noticed.  Many  of  the  alterations  your  Lordship 
will  find  very  unimportant,  being  merely  some 
words  contracted  in  one  copy,  and  put  at  full 
length  in  the  other,  as  they  indifferently  occur 
in  both  collections. 

"  Hoping  your  Lordship  will  not  deem  these 
observations  obtrusive  or  impertinent,  I  beg  to 
subscribe  myself, 

"  My  Lord,  your  Lordship's 

"  Most  obedient  servant, 

"  ROBERT  LEMON." 
"  To  the  Right  Rev. 

"The  Lord  Bishop  of  Winchester." 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON.  157 


Bishop  has  merely  embodied  the  opinion  of  the  late  Mr.  Lemon  nearly  word  for 
word,  as  seen  in  the  subjoined  extract  from  the  "Preliminary  Observations": 

JIHE  manuscript  itself,"  states  Bishop  Sumner,  "consists  of  735  pages,  closely  written 
on  small  quarto  letter  paper.  The  first  part,  as  far  as  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the 
first  book,  is  in  a  small  and  beautiful  Italian  hand  ;  being  evidently  a  corrected  copy, 
prepared  for  the  press,  without  interlineations  of  any  kind.  This  portion  of  the 
volume,  however,  affords  a  proof  that  even  the  most  careful  transcription  seldom  fails 
to  diminish  the  accuracy  of  a  text ;  for  although  it  is  evident  that  extraordinary 
pains  have  been  employed  to  secure  its  legibility  and  correctness,  the  mistakes  which  are  found  in 
this  part  of  the  manuscript,  especially  in  the  references  to  the  quotations,  are  in  proportion  of 
fourteen  to  one  as  compared  with  those  in  the  remaining  three-fifths  of  the  work.  The  character  is 
evidently  that  of  a  female  hand,  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Lemon,  whose  knowledge  of  the  hand- 
writings of  that  time  is  so  extensive  that  the  greatest  deference  is  due  to  his  judgment,  that  Mary, 
the  second  daughter  of  Milton,  was  employed  as  amanuensis  in  this  part  of  the  volume.  In 
corroboration  of  this  conjecture,  it  may  be  remarked  that  some  of  the  mistakes  above  alluded  to  are 
of  a  nature  to  induce  a  suspicion  that  the  transcriber  was  merely  a  copyist,  or,  at  most,  only 
imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  learned  languages.  For  instance,  in  p.  19,  1.  17  of  the  Latin 
volume,  the  following  quotation  occurs :  Heb.  iv.  13,  omnia,  sunt  nuda,  et  db  intimo  patentia  oculis 
ejiw,  where  in  the  manuscript  the  word  patientia  is  substituted  for  patentia.  This  might  have  been 
supposed  an  accidental  oversight,  occasioned  by  the  haste  of  the  writer ;  but  on  turning  to  the  Latin 
Bible  of  Junius  and  Tremellius,  which  Milton  generally  uses  in  his  quotations,  it  will  be  found  that 
the  same  error  occurs  in  the  edition  printed  at  Geneva,  1630,  but  not  in  that  printed  at  London, 
1593.  This  not  only  seems  to  fix  the  precise  edition  of  the  Bible  from  which  the  texts  were  copied, 
but,  considering  that  the  mistake  is  such  as  could  hardly  fail  to  be  corrected  by  the  most  careless 
transcriber,  provided  he  understood  the  sentence,  affords  a  strong  presumption  that  the  writer 
possessed  a  very  moderate  degree  of  scholarship.  On  the  other  hand,  a  great  proportion  of  the 
errors  are  precisely  such  as  lead  to  the  supposition  that  the  amanuensis,  though  no  scholar,  was  to  a 
certain  degree  acquainted  with  the  language  verbally ;  inasmuch  as  they  generally  consist,  not  of 
false  combinations  of  letters,  but  of  the  substitution  of  one  word  for  another  of  nearly  similar  sound 
or  structure.  Of  this  kind  are  glories  for  gratice,  corrueiUem  for  cor  autem,  nos  for  non,  in  jus  for  ejiis, 
re  for  rex,  imminuitur  for  innuitur,  in  quam  for  inquam,  iniquam  for  inquam,  assimulatus  for  assimilatus, 
alienee  tuae  for  alienatas,  ccelorun  for  ccecorum,  decere  for  doeere,  explorentur  for  explerentur,  examinatis 
for  exanimat^,  juraverunt  for  jejunarunt,  errare  for  ware,  etc.,  etc.  Faults  of  this  description, 
especially  considering  that  very  few  occur  of  a  different  class,  and  taken  in  connexion  with  the 
opinion  of  Mr.  Lemon  stated  above,  will  perhaps  remind  the  reader  of  a  charge,  which,  as  Mr.  Todd 
notices,  has  been  brought  against  the  paternal  conduct  of  Milton.  'I  mean  his  teaching  his 
children  to  read  and  pronounce  Greek  and  several  other  languages,  without  understanding  any  but 
English.1  This  at  least  is  certain,  that  the  transcriber  of  this  part  of  the  manuscript  was  much 
employed  in  Milton's  service  ;  for  the  handwriting  is  the  same  as  appears  in  the  fair  copy  of  the 
Latin  letters,  discovered,  as  has  been  mentioned,  in  the  press  which  contained  the  present  treatise. 

"  The  remainder  of  the  manuscript  is  in  an  entirely  different  hand,  being  a  strong  upright 
character,  supposed  by  Mr.  Lemon  to  be  the  handwriting  of  Edward  Philipps,  the  nephew  of  Milton. 
This  part  of  the  volume  is  interspersed  with  numerous  interlineations  and  corrections,  and  in  several 
places  with  small  slips  of  writing  pasted  in  the  margin.  These  corrections  are  in  two  distinct  hand- 
writings, different  from  the  body  of  the  manuscript,  but  the  greater  part  of  them  undoubtedly 
written  by  the  same  person  who  transcribed  the  first  part  of  the  volume.  Hence  it  is  probable  that 
the  latter  part  of  the  MS.  is  a  copy  transcribed  by  Philipps,  and  finally  revised  and  corrected  by 
Mary  and  Deborah  Milton  from  the  dictation  of  their  father,  as  many  of  the  alterations  bear  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  reputed  handwriting  of  Deborah,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Milton,  in  the 


158 


BAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


manuscripts  preserved  in  the  Library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge ;  who  is  stated  by  Wood, — J '".-•// 
Oxonienses,  Part  I,  1635,  col.  483, — to  have  been  'trained  up  by  her  father  in  Latin  and  Greek,  and 
made  by  him  his  amanuensis.'" 

It  is  a  question  whether  any  learned  man,  having  to  copy  out  two  hundred 
pages  of  close  and  almost  illegible  writing  in  a  language  of  which  even  he  was 
master,  might  not  be  guilty,  in  the  plodding  and  very  unusual  labour  assigned  to 
him,  of  committing  many  more  blunders  than  those  adduced  by  the  Venerable  and 
learned  Bishop  Sumner. 

Daniel  Skinner,  the  copyist,  was  a  "  Trinity  Man."  How  far  his  having  boon 
so  is  a  guarantee  for  his  classical  attainments,  is  quite  another  point.  Had  Daniel 
Skinner  attested  that  his  copy  had  been  carefully  read  over  with  the  original,  and 
was  a  correct  transcript,  we  could  then  only  consider  that  his  Collegiate  Education 
had  not,  so  far  as  his  Latin  was  concerned,  been  successful,  or  that  the  accuracy  of 
his  comparison  was  questionable. 

Our  artist,  Mr.  G.  J.  F.  Tupper,  very  truly  observes,  when  forwarding  to  us  the 
fac-similes  he  had  made  from  the  original  MS.  :  "  With  respect  to  the  mistakes,  I  do 
not  think  Bishop  Sumner's  conclusion  very  sound;  for  you  and  I  know  well  enough, 
that,  when  a  man  sets  to  the  plodding  work  of  copying,  the  storehouse  of  his  brain 
is  shut  up,  and  his  mental  capacity  is  rather  a  bar  than  an  assistance  to  his  work. 
In  other  words,  a  Scholar  is  less  likely  than  a  mere  penman  to  transcribe  correctly." 

JHAT  some  of  the  Sonnets  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript  are  in  the 
same  hand  as  was  employed  in  writing  the  latter  part  of  the  "De 
Doctrind  Christiand,"  will  be  clearly  shewn  in  the  examination  of  our 
fac-similes.  There  is  not,  however,  as  yet  one  particle  of  evidence  as 
to  any  of  those  Sonnets  having  been  written  by  DEBOKAH,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  Milton,  as  has  been  so  generally  stated  and  believed. 

Without  here  entering  into  any  arguments  to  prove  that  Deborah  did  not 
contribute  the  exercise  of  her  pen  to  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  it  is  sufficient 
to  remark,  that  she  was  not  Ixyrn  until  May  1 652,  and  that  none  of  the  Sonnets  and 
other  writing  in  that  volume  are  of  a  later  date  than  a  very  f&iv  years  after  tlmt 
period ;  the  date  given  to  the  last  Sonnet,  No.  23,  "  On  his  deceased  Wife,"  being 
in,  or  shortly  after  1658,  Milton  having  in  February  of  that  year  lost  his  second 
wife,  to  whose  memory  it  was  written.  So  that,  even  taking  the  latest  possible  date,- 
the  last  writing  in  the  volume,- Deborah  must,  if  her  pen  was  employed,  have  bcm 
a  perfect  mistress  in  the  art  of  caligraphy  when  six  years  old ! 

It  was  not  until  after  the  issue  of  the  Translation  of  De  Doctrind 
Christiand,  that  Bishop  Sumner  became  aware  that  it  was  not  Cyriac  Skinner  to 
whom  Milton  had  entrusted  the  Manuscript  and  other  Documents,  but  to  Danx'l 
Skinner ;  though  Bishop  Sumner  had  some  doubt1  as  to  whether  the  Daniel  Skinner, 


1  De  Doctrina  Christiana.     Preliminary  Observations,  p.  xiv. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


159 


mentioned  in  the  register  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  Oct.  2,  1674,  might  not  be 
the  Skinner  referred  to  by  Mr.  Perwich  in  his  letter  written  from  Paris,  March  15, 
1677,  to  Mr.  Bridgman,  Secretary  to  Sir  Joseph  Williamson.1 

In  November  1 825,  the  late  Mr.  Lemon  appears  to  have  entirely  altered  his 
opinion  as  to  the  identity  of  the  handwriting  of  the  Manuscript.  In  his  letters  to 
Bishop  Sumner  of  the  8th  and  1 7th  of  that  year,  he  seems  to  have  fully  satisfied  his 
mind,  that  the  careful  transcript  of  the  first  portion  of  the  De  Doctrinu  Christiana 
and  the  whole  of  the  copies  of  the  State  Letters,  were  in  the  autograph  of  Daniel 
Skinner. 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  information  conveyed  by  the  late  Mr.  Lemon  to 
Bishop  Sumner  of  the  discoveries  he  had  made  in  respect  to  the  handwriting  of 
the  first  portion  of  the  Manuscript  not  being  in  the  autograph  of  either  of  the 
daughters  of  the  Poet,  arrived  many  months  after  the  publication  of  the  Translation, 
the  dedication  of  that  work  bearing  date  1825.  Had  the  work  passed  through 
another  edition,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  would  have 
most  gladly  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity,  not  only  of  stating,  that,  in  forming 
his  opinion  of  the  autograph  in  the  original  Manuscript,  his  views  were  alone 
founded  on  the  judgment  of  the  late  Mr.  Lemon,  but  of  making  known  the  circum- 
stances that  had  caused  the  alteration  of  the  former  judgment  of  Mr.  Lemon. 

That  these  Manuscripts  should  have  been  preserved  from  destruction  during 
that  unhappy  period  of  English  History,  is  perhaps  not  less  remarkable  than  that 
Milton  himself  should  have  survived  the  general  proscription  of  Cromwell's  adhe- 
rents. 

AUBREY  states,  that  Milton  entrusted  the  MSS.  of  several  of  his  unpublished 
works  to  a  "  Mr.  Skinner,  a  merchant's  son,  in  Mark  Lane,"  whom  Wood,  without 
any  authority,  assumes  to  have  been  Cyriac,  though  Aubrey  does  not  so  describe  him, 
but  introduces  another  "  Mr.  Skinner,  of  the  Jerker's  Office,  up  two  pair  of  stairs,  at 
the  Custom  House."  This  was,  no  doubt,  the  person  to  whom  Milton  entrusted  his 
MSS.,  and  who,  on  his  going  to  Holland  in  1676,  gave  them  to  Elscvier  for 
publication,  owing  to  the  English  Government,  on  the  Eestoration,  being  extremely 
jealous  of  everything  proceeding  from  the  pen  of  the  great  defender  of  the  Common- 
wealth,- so  much  so  that  even  Paradise  Lost  was  scarcely  allowed  to  appear  in  print.2 

One  of  those  Manuscripts  comprised  the  carefully  executed  copies  of  the  STATE 
LETTERS  written  by  Milton  while  he  was  Latin  Secretary  to  the  Commonwealth,  of 
which  a  surreptitious  edition  appearing  in  1676,  created  some  alarm.  "Suspicion," 
writes  Mr.  Hamilton,3  "  fell  on  Daniel  Skinner  as  the  author  of  their  publication,  and 
he  was  called  upon  to  give  an  account  of  what  he  knew  of  the  matter."  Accordingly, 


1  De  Doctrina  Christiana.     Preliminary  Ob- 
servations, p.  xi. 


2  Papers  relating  to  Milton  in  the  State  Paper 
Office.  1859.  Pp.  29-30.  3  Ib.,  pp.  30-2. 


160 


RAMBLINGS    IS    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


he  made  an  attestation,1  "dated  Oct.  18,  1676,"  that,  long  after  he  had  committal 
"  the  true  and  perfect  copy  of  the  '  State  Letters'  to  Elsevier,  of  Amsterdam,  for  the 
purpose  of  being  printed,  a  bookseller  of  the  name  of  Pitts  brought  to  him  some 
papers  of  Milton ;"  and  therefore,  to  the  said  Pitts,  Skinner  attributed  the  issue  of  the 
"State  Letters"  in  1676.  In  consequence  of  that  document,  the  original  of  which 
is  in  the  State  Paper  Office,  Sir  Joseph  Williamson,  then  Secretary,  appears  to  have 
put  himself  in  communication  with  Daniel  Elsevier,  who,  in  reply  to  his  inquiries, 
writes  on  the  20th  of  December  1676,  that, 

"  D  y  a  environ  un  an  qne  je  suis  convenu  avec  Monsieur  Skinner,  d'imprimer  les  lettres  de 
Milton,  et  tin  autre  manuscript  en  Theologie ;  mais,  ayant  receu  les  dits  manuscripts,  et  y  ayant  trouve 
des  choses  que  je  jugeois  estre  plus  propres  d'estre  supprimez  que  divulgez,  j'ay  pris  resolution  de 
n'imprimer  n'y  1'un  n'y  1'antre." 

On  the  19th  of  February,  1677,  Elsevier  wrote  to  Daniel  Skinner,  senior,  at  the 
same  time  forwarding  a  Prospectus,  which  he  had  previously  issued,  of  the  intended 
edition  of  the  "State  Letters;"  and  acknowledging  that  the  original  manuscript  of 
those  and  of  the  work  on  Theology  were  still  in  his  hands;  that  he  had  determined 
not  to  print  them;  and  that  the  son  of  Mr.  Skinner  would  deliver  them  up  to 
Sir  Joseph  Williamson,  though  in  the  letter  of  November  20  in  the  previous  year, 
Elsevier  stated  that  Daniel  Skinner,  jun.,  was  delighted  that  he,  Elsevier,  had  not 
commenced  the  printing  of  the  "  Letters,"  and  that  he  would  buy  up,  or  call  in,  the 
prospectuses  issued,  adding, "  qu'il  avoit  pris  uneferme  resolution  d'user  en  sorte  des 
dits  manuscripts  qu'ils  ne  paroitroient  jamais." 

Daniel  Skinner  had  previously  written  a  long  letter  to  Mr.  Secretary  Pepys, 
dated  from  Rotterdam,  Nov.  19,  1676,  detailing  all  the  particulars  concerning  the 
said  MSS.,  and  stating  his  willingness  "  to  dispose  of  them  where  his  honour  peases, 
either  into  the  hands  of  my  Lord  Jenkyns,  or  into  his  mm  for  better  satisfaction." 
Notwithstanding  this,  however,  the  MSS.  remained  in  the  hands  of  Daniel  Skinner, 
who,  on  the  receipt,  at  Paris,  of  a  letter  from  Dr.  Barrow,  the  head  of  his  College, 
dated  Feb.  13,  167f,  ordering  his  return  to  Cambridge,  and  cautioning  him,  on 
pain  of  expulsion  from  his  College,  if  he  published  "any  writing  mischievous 
of  ye  Church  or  State,"  informed  Mr.  Perwich,  the  bearer  of  it,  that  he  had  left  the 
MSS.  in  Holland;  and  that,  notwithstanding  the  College  summons  he  had  received, 
he  intended  to  pass  the  summer  in  Italy. 

The  precise  date  when  Daniel  Skinner  returned  to  England  is  not  clearly 
ascertained;  but  as  on  May  23,  1679,  he  succeeded  to  a  senior  fellowship  in  his 
College  [Trinity,  Cambridge],  we  may  presume,  that,  before  that  period,  he  had 
deposited  the  said  Manuscript  in  the  State  Paper  Office;  where  they  no  doubt 
remained  unheeded  until  discovered  by  the  late  Robert  Lemon,  Esq.,  Deputy  Keeper 
of  His  Majesty's  State  Papers. 

1  THE  ATTESTATION  OF  D.  SKINNER.  Of  that  document  in  the  State  Paper  Office,  we  have  given 
a  fac-simile  in  full,  Plate  XXTTL,  No.  I. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH  OF    MILTON. 


161 


SPECIMENS   OF   THE   WRITING   IN   THE   ORIGINAL    MANUSCRIPT 

OF 

THE    TREATISE   OF    CHRISTIAN    DOCTRINE. 


PLATES    XX.   TO   XXII. 

HE  Manuscript  has  been  executed  at  various  times,  and  on  a 
variety  of  paper  differing  in  size  and  quality ;  the  latter  circum- 
stance occasionally  affects  the  character  of  the  writing. 

Pages  1  to  182  inclusive,  are  in  a  thin  Italian  cursive  hand; 
all  on  quarto  paper  of  the  same  size  and  of  the  same  quality.    The 
same  hand  continues,  but  on  paper  of  a  smaller  size,  from  1 83  to 
196,  and  occasionally  in  other  parts  of  the  volume.     Pages  308* 
and  571  to  574  inclusive  are  entirely  in  the  same  hand;  as  are  also  many  of  the 
marginal  notes  and  additions  inserted  on  slips  of  paper  at  pages  206,  247,  353,  362, 
391,  411,  472,  and  718. 

It  is  very  evident,  that,  previous  to  the  volume  being  entrusted  by  Milton  to 
Daniel  Skinner,  the  latter  part  was  thoroughly  revised,  Milton  taking  for  granted 
that  the  first  portion  had  been  carefully  copied.  The  work  was,  no  doubt,  written 
out  by  the  then  young  Amanuensis,  from  the  rough  manuscript  as  dictated  by 
Milton.  The  writer,  it  is  certain,  had  become  well  skilled  in  the  Secretary  hand 
of  the  period.  It  is  evident  that  he  occasionally  amused  himself  by  displaying  the 
freedom  and  perfection  of  his  penmanship,  making  use  of  a  great  variety  of  styles. 
It  is  written  with  particular  care,  more  as  a  task,  and  not  in  his  ordinary  writing. 
When  called  upon,  on  reading  over  his  transcript  to  Milton,  to  make  additions,  he 
then,  perhaps,  used  not  so  good  a  pen,  and  being  also  cramped  for  room,  he  inserted 
the  additions  chiefly  on  the  margins,  which  gave  them  a  different  character  from  the 
original  writing. 

The  first  portion  of  the  volume  was  no  doubt  found  to  be  so  full  of  corrections 
and  additions,  that  it  was  thought  better  to  make  a  clear  copy  of  it.  Mr.  Daniel 
Skinner,  to  whom  that  part  of  the  labour  was  entrusted,  appears  to  have  gone  over 
the  remainder  of  the  manuscript  with  the  view  of  preparing  it  for  the  press,  as  is 
shewn  by  the  end  of  each  chapter  being  specially  noted  by  him  as  the  Reviser. 

After  page  196  commences  the  hand  in  which  the  previous  portion  of  the 
volume  had  been  originally  written.  It  is  evidently  the  writing,  as  we  have  stated, 
of  a  student,  and  displays  such  an  infinite  variety  of  styles,  that  we  are  not  at 

21 


162  RAMBLINGS    IX    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


all  astonished  that  persons  should  at  first  sight  not  believe  the  whole  to  have  been 
written  by  one  person,  whose  handwriting  continues,  with  the  exception  of  the 
pages  previously  named,  as  also  pages  549,  550-1-2,  to  the  close  of  the  volume, 
page  735. 

The  writing  of  pages  549,  550-1-2,  is  of  an  ordinary  cursive  hand.  Tiny 
were  written,  evidently,  at  a  different  period ;  probably  at  a  later  time,  when 
the  usual  hand  of  the  person  who  wrote  the  other  part  was  not  so  free,  and  the 
character  of  the  writing  is,  therefore,  a  little  altered.  That  such  was  the  case,  is 
clear,  from  the  circumstance  of  those  four  leaves  being  on  a  different  paper  from  that 
previously  and  subsequently  employed. 

When  first  we  examined  the  volume,  we  could  not  believe  that  the  thick  and 
bad  writing  of  some  of  the  marginal  notes  could  possibly  have  been  by  the  same 
hand  as  had  been  employed  throughout  the  latter  portion  of  the  work.  Yet,  when 
we  afterwards  carefully  examined  the  writing  of  all  the  notes,  and  found  the  coarser 
and  more  careless  hand  intermixed  with  the  smaller  and  smallest  round  and  semi- 
cursive  writing,  we  could  come  to  no  other  conclusion  than  that  the  same  hand  was 
employed  throughout,  but  under  various  circumstances,  and  at  different  times. 


PLATE  XX.     SPECIMEN  1. 

jlHIS  gives  a  whole  page,  183.  It  is  in  the  autograph  of  Daniel  Skinner, 
in  which  the  first  portion  of  the  work,  as  far  as  page  196,  has  been 
transcribed.  The  whole  of  that  portion  is  executed  in  a  lighter 
coloured  ink  than  the  other  part  of  the  manuscript. 

SPECIMEN  2. 

The  whole  of  page  197  is  here  given.  It  is  in  the  hand  of  the  Amanuensis, 
who  was  employed  at  different  times.  Here  the  writing  commences  with  an  orna- 
mental and  large  round  hand,  the  next  three  lines  being  in  the  careful  Secretary 
hand.  Then  conies  the  larger  hand  followed  by  the  smaller,  very  delicately  and  care- 
fully written,  having  in  the  third  line  an  insertion,  "Et  Christus,"  in  a  thick,  coarse 
style,  as  used  in  some  of  the  marginal  notes.  See  specimen  3  in  the  next  plate. 

SPECIMEN  2*. 

The  Autograph  Signature  and  record  of  Daniel  Skinner,  as  entered  in  the 
Graduation  Book  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  May  23,  1679,  when  he  became  a 
Senior  Fellow  of  that  College. 

Did  not  other  specimens  of  his  autograph  exist,  the  one  here  given  would  of 
itself  have  been  sufficient  to  prove  the  fact  that  the  fair  copy  of  the  first  portion 
of  the  De  Doctrind  Christiana,  and  the  marginal  notes  and  corrections  in  the 
same  hand  as  in  the  latter  portion  of  the  volume,  were  in  the  autograph  of  Daniel 
Skinner. 


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THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  163 


PLATE    XXI.     SPECIMENS  3  TO  10 

|  XHIBIT  the  various  styles  in  which  the  marginal  additions  are 
written.  The  peculiar  thick  and  coarse  hand,  specimen  3,  is  at  once 
seen  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  insertion  of  the  words  "Et 
Chrislus,"  in  specimen  2  in  the  preceding  plate. 

Specimen  4  is  remarkable  as  exemplifying,  except  the  large  text, 
every  other  style  of  writing;  while  the  other  specimens,  6  and  10,  shew  the  same 
cursive  hand  in  different  states  of  penmanship. 

PLATE    XXII.     SPECIMEN  11. 

AGE  319  is  written  with  the  lines  far  apart,  and  in  a  remarkably 
flourishing  style,  of  which  specimen  1 1  gives  the  first  five  lines. 

SPECIMEN  12. 

Two  lines  in  this  peculiar,  large  text,  from  the  centre  of  page  376. 
Here  we  desire  particular  attention  to  the  formation  of  the  capital  M  in  the  word 
Ministri.  The  M,  similarly  formed,  occurs  in  many  other  portions  of  the  volume. 
It  is,  beyond  all  question,  identical  with  that  of  the  signature  of  the  Poet  as  attached 
to  the  Singer  Document  bearing  date  1660.  Of  that  signature  we  have  given  a 
notice,  p.  129,  and  a  fac-simile,  plate  XVIIL,  No.  II.,  specimen  4,  and  again  in 
plate  XXIIL,  No.  V.,  specimen  1.  It  is  not,  however,  that  the  identity  of  the  writing 
is  seen  in  the  letter  M.  The  autograph  of  the  whole  name  is  precisely  the  same  as 
is  frequently  found  intermixed  with  the  various  styles  of  writing  in  the  latter  portion 
of  the  De  Doctrind  Christiana,,  of  which  a  more  satisfactory  specimen,  in  confirma- 
tion of  the  identity  of  the  writings,  could  not  be  given  than  in  the  specimen  12 
under  consideration,  from  page  376. 

The  date,  "  7th  May,  1660,"  is  in  the  same  handwriting;  but  not  so,  we  think, 
the  words  "  witness  my  hand  and  seale  this." 

SPECIMEN  13. 

From  the  text  of  p.  401.  Here  we  have  the  partly  cursive  hand  as  used  in 
specimen  10,  and  the  coarser  style  as  in  the  marginal  note,  p.  198,  specimen  3. 

SPECIMEN  14. 

The  whole  of  p.  426  is  written  in  this  beautiful  and  most  careful  style,  some 
parts  being  exceedingly  minute,  forcibly  shewing  the  well-skilled  caligraphy  of  the 

Amanuensis. 

SPECIMEN  15. 

We  have  previously  stated  that  pp.  549-552  inclusive  have  been  apparently 
rewritten  and  inserted  at  a  later  period  than  the  writing  of  the  remainder  of  the 
volume.  We  have  also  stated  that  the  writing  bears  evidence  of  having  been  executed 


164 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


more  in  the  ordinary  hand  of  the  writer.  That  the  hand  is  the  same,  may  be  at 
once  seen  in  the  peculiar  formation  of  the  capital  R  in  the  finer  writing  in  the 
second  line  of  specimen  1 4  and  elsewhere ;  while  the  partially  erased  insertion  after 
the  fourth  line  of  p.  552,  specimen  15,  proves  that  the  writer  was  still  capable  of 
using  his  pen  in  the  minute  hand.  Daniel  Skinner,  however,  to  whom  Milton  had 
entrusted  the  work,  not  feeling  satisfied  with  the  clearness  of  the  interlineary  note, 
recopied  it  in  the  margin,  as  seen  in  the  fae-simile  of  the  page. 

PLATE    XXIII.     SPECIMEN  1. 

ERE  is  a  fac-simile  of  the  Attestation  of  Daniel  Skinner  particularly 
mentioned  at  p.  1 60,  in  connexion  with  the  publication  of  the  "  State 
Letters"  of  Milton,  written  during  the  period  of  his  duties  as  Latin 
Secretary.  The  fac-simile  is  here  given  to  prove  the  identity  of  the 
writing  with  that  of  the  first  portion  of  the  DC  Doctrind  Christiand. 

SPECIMEN  2. 

Here  we  have  the  commencement  and  ending  of  the  letter  written  by  DANIEL 
ELSEVIER,  also  referred  to  page  160,  in  connexion  with  the  same  "  State  Letters."  It 
is  interesting  as  a  specimen  of  the  Autograph  of  a  man  so  distinguished  in  the 
Annals  of  the  Literature  of  the  Seventeenth  Century. 

SPECIMEN  3. 

At  page  160  we  have  noted  that  Dr.  Barrow,  the  Master  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  wrote  to  Daniel  Skinner,  Feb.  13, 167f;  on  which  day  he  addressed 
his  friend  "  Mr.  George  Seignior,  at  Ely  House,  in  Holborne,  London."  Both  these 
letters  are  among  the  "Domestic  Papers"  in  the  State  Paper  Office.  They  are 
printed  in  "Papers  relating  to  Milton,"  edited,  1859,  by  Mr.  W.  Douglas  Hamilton, 
pp.  40-1.  The  commencement  and  ending  of  the  second  letter  are  here  merely 
given  as  a  specimen  of  the  autograph  of  the  learned  theologian  Dr.  Barrow. 

Nos.  IV.  AND  V.    SPECIMENS  1  TO  5. 

The  specimens  in  No.  V.  are  taken  from  pp.  228,  283,  363,  364,  and  631. 
They  are  merely  given  to  shew  the  identity  of  the  writing  of  the  latter  portion  of 
the  De  Doctrind  Christiana  with  that  of  the  signature,  No.  IV.,  from  the  Singer 
Document,  of  which  we  have  given  a  detailed  account  at  page  1 29. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON. 


165 


P  to  the  penning  of  the  ensuing  observations,  February  14,  1860, 
we  have  not  had  the  opportunity  of  examining  any  writing  in 
the  autograph1  either  of  Edward  or  John  Phillips,  or  of  Daniel 
Skinner,2  or  of  Elwood  the  Quaker ;  all  of  whom  had  more  or 
less  immediate  intercourse  with  Milton  to  a  late  period  of 
his  life,  when  wholly  dependent  upon  the  assistance  of  others 
in  recording  the  productions  of  his  marvellously  active  miiid. 
Nor  have  we  been  gratified  with  what  we  have  been  anticipating  with  so  much 
delight  since  the  period  we  were  first  permitted  to  make  use  of  the  Trinity  College 
Manuscript.  We  here  allude  to  the  examination  of  the  ORIGINAL  MANUSCRIPT  of  the 
FIRST  BOOK  of  PARADISE  LOST,  from  which  the  FIRST  EDITION  is  said  to  have  been 
printed.  That  Manuscript,  together  with  many  other  papers  of  considerable  literary 
interest,  is  now  in  the  possession  of  William  Baker,  Esq.,  of  Bayfordbury  near 
Hertford ;  but  in  consequence  of  a  domestic  calamity  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Baker,  we 
were  then  prevented  from  paying  our  anticipated  visit  to  that  gentleman,  through 
the  very  kind  introduction  of  our  friend,  the  Rev.  W.  L.  Lawson,  of  Queynton 
Rectory,  Window,  Bucks. 


HILE  waiting,  therefore,  for  the  opportunity  of  visiting  Bayford- 
bury,  to  examine  the  said  Manuscript  of  Paradise  Lost,  we 
proceed  with  an  attempt  to  investigate,  what  cannot  fail  to  be 
interesting,-not  in  the  actual  Elucidation  of  the  Autograph  of 
the  Poet,-but  in  ascertaining,  if  possible,  in  whose  hand  the 
latter  part  of  the  De  Doctrind  Christiand  is  executed,  as  well  as 
other  writings  in  the  same  hand  ;  hitherto  supposed  by  some  to 

be  that  of  DEBORAH,  the  youngest  daughter,  and  by  others,  of  EDWARD  PHILLIPS, 

the  eldest  nephew  of  the  Poet. 

Before,  however,  we  proceed  to  enter  upon  the  subject  of  the  handwriting,  it 

may  not  be  uninteresting  to  relate  the  particulars  touching  the  loss  sustained  by  the 

Poet  in  being  deprived  of  his  sight. 


1  Since  then  we  have  had  the  good  fortune  to 
purchase  a  copy  of  the  1665  edition  of  Baker's 
"Chronicle  of  the  Kings  of  England."  It  had 
been  presented  to  the  then  Bishop  of  London, 
and  has  on  the  fly-leaf  an  inscription  in  the 
Autograph  of  Edward  Phillips.  The  edition 


was  considerably  enlarged  by  him,  and  is  the 
first  that  bears  Ms  name  as  Editor.  A  fac-simile 
of  the  inscription  is  given  in  plate  XXIV.,  No.  1. 

*  The  specimens  of  his  attested  Autograph, 
as  given  in  plate  XXIV.,  have  been  taken  since. 


16G 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


THE    BLINDNESS    OF    MILTON. 

N  the  AUTOBIOGRAPHY1  of  the  Poet,- occasioned  by  the  severity  of 
the  personal  attacks  of  his  political  opponents  against  his  private 
character,  commencing  even  with  the  malicious  reports  that  had 
been  most  unwarrantably  circulated  as  to  his  conduct  when  at 
College,- Milton  has  so  charmingly  alluded  to  the  cause  of  the 
truly  melancholy  affliction  of  his  total  blindness,  that  it  really 
appears  a  matter  of  supererogation  to  enter  into  that  point, 
except  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining,  as  near  as  possible,  the  period  when  he  was 
necessitated  to  lay  down  his  most  active  pen,  transferring  its  future  employment  to 
the  hands  of  others,  under  the  guidance  of  a  mind  that  became  more  and  more 
stored  with  intellectuality  when  deprived  of  the  use  of  that  organ  by  which  all 
external  objects  are,  as  in  Nature,  conveyed  to  the  mind. 

It  is  generally  considered  that  a  Blind  Man  is  happy  and  contented.  That 
must,  however,  depend  in  a  great  measure  upon  the  circumstances  under  which  he 
lost  his  sight.  Those  who  have  been  subjected  to  such  an  affliction  from  their 
birth,  are,  as  they  grow  up,  generally  the  happiest  and  most  contented  of  all  human 
beings. 

Though  believing  in  a  special  providence,  we  can  hardly  bring  the  mind  to  view 
a  man  born  blind  as  having  been  so  born  by  the  will  of  his  Creator.  Otherwise,  all 
defects  in  nature,  and  her  occasional  monstrosities,  must  be  referred  to  and  looked 
upon  as  the  result  of  a  special  providence,  and  for  a  specific  end.  How  far  such  an 
opinion  is  justified  is  a  grave  point.  St.  John,  chap,  i.,  verse  3,  records,  "  All  things 
were  made  by  Him,  and  without  Him  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made." 
This  passage,  however,  may  be  regarded  as  retrospective. 

Very  different,  however,  may  be  the  feelings  of  those  who  have  become  blind 
from  accident,  or  by  the  early  decay  of  visual  power,  consequent  on  the  overstraining 
of  its  natural  strength.  They  cannot  help  feeling  occasionally  during  the  remainder 
of  their  lives,  that,  however  much  they  may  be  blessed  with  peaceful  and  contented 
minds,  they  have  been  deprived  of  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  of  life  by  an  accident 
that  might  have  been  avoided,  or  that  their  affliction  had  been  the  result  of  their  own 
imprudence. 

MILTON  has  in  his  poetical  productions  so  sublimely  recorded  his  own  feelings 
of  happiness  under  his  affliction  of  total  blindness,  that,  notwithstanding  some  slight 
conflicting  evidence  to  the  contrary,  it  is  hardly  right  to  question  his  title  to  have 
been  considered,  in  the  usual  acceptation  of  the  words,  "a  happy  and  contented 
man." 


1  See  pp.  26-31  ante. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


167 


ONDERFULLY  marvellous  and  inscrutable  is  the  Providence  of  the 
Almighty  in  changing  the  feelings  of  the  Heart  of  Man.  Specially 
may  the  case  of  Milton  be  attributed  to  the  Influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  mind  is  most  forcibly  impressed  with  this  idea  on  reading 
the  life  of  the  Poet  when  commencing  his  studies  as  a  Boy  ; — tracing 
his  pursuits  until  he  entered  into  Public  Life; — viewing  the  part  he  took  for  so  many 
years  in  the  Political  Drama  of  his  day ; — looking  at  the  unhappy  state  of  his 
Domestic  Life  ; — weighing  his  position  when  he  found  that  the  labours  of  his  heart 
and  of  his  overstrained  pen  had  produced  nothing  but  Rebellion  and  Blood ;  a  scene 
so  soon  to  be  followed  by  the  restoration  of  his  exiled  King,  against  which  act,  even 
up  to  the  last  moment  of  hope,  the  energies  of  his  mind  had  been  concentrated ; — 
reflecting  on  his  providential  deliverance  from  that  Death  which  others  far  less 
guilty  had  suffered ; — remembering  the  magnanimity  of  his  King  in  considering  the 
affliction  under  which  he  was  suffering,  as  a  sufficient  Punishment  for  his  past 
offences ; — viewing  him  in  his  peaceful  retirement,  when  occupying  his  mind  in  the 
fulfilment  of  one  of  his  earliest  Desires  ere  he  forsook  his  Muse; — rejoicing  in  his 
being  permitted  to  complete  that,  his  imperishable  Poem,  Paradise  Lost,  which 
had  he  not  been  so  mercifully  spared,  would  have  remained  only  in  the  form  as 
originally  suggested  to  the  mind  of  the  Poet  forty  years  before,- a  Monument  of  the 
Instability  of  Human  Nature. 

All  these  circumstances  cause  the  mind  to  view  the  Actions  of  Man  as  guided  by 
the  power  of  an  inscrutable  Providence.  Not  only  was  Milton  permitted  to  pour 
out  in  one  continuous  stream,  from  his  marvellously  overflowing  poetic  mind,  his 
loved  design,  but  to  add,  what  he  himself  more  highly  esteemed,  his  PARADISE 
REGAINED.2  Then,  like  the  stem  of  the  time-beaten  oak  deprived  of  all  its  branches, 
yielding  to  the  decay  of  nature,  did  the  Poet  Milton  close  his  life  in  the  full 
expectation  and  belief  that  the  part  he  had  been  destined  to  take  in  his  mortal 
career  would  be  mercifully  judged  by  his  Creator. 

Milton  is  stated  to  have  died  on  Sunday  the  8th  of  November,  1674.  His 
death  was  so  easy,  that  the  time  of  his  expiration  was  unperceived  by  the  attendants 
in  his  room.  He  was  buried  next  his  father,  in  the  chancel  of  St.  Giles's,  Cripple- 
gate,  on  the  12th.  His  name  is  entered  in  the  register  of  that  parish  as  "John 
Melton,  gentleman."  In  "  The  Obituary  of  Richard  Smyth,  Secondary  of  the  Poultry 
Compter,  London,  1627  to  1674;  edited  by  Sir  Henry  Ellis,  K.H.,  for  the  Camdeu 
Society,  1849,  No.  XLIV.,"  the  death  of  the  Poet  is  recorded  as  having  taken  place 
seven  days  earlier.  The  entry,  p.  104,  is,  "Novem.  15,3  John  Milton  died  at  Bun- 


1  See  fac-similes  of  the  Original  Design  of  the 
Poem,  plate  IV.      „ 

2  All  Authors  and  Artists  believe  their  last 
productions  to  be  superior  to  their  earlier  works, 
though  the  world  generally  judges  otherwise. 


3  Peignot,  in  his  "Dictionnaire,  Sfc.,des  L/'/v.x 
condamncf  auFou,"vo\.  i., p.  320,  when  writing  on 
the  Defence  by  Milton,  notes  that  the  Poet  died 
"aBnmnhil,leI5  Novemlre,\674<."  Peignot  con- 
sidered that  Milton  received  £1000  for  that  work. 


168 


BAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


It  ill  near  Morefields  in  Criplegate  parish,  Hind  some  time  before  he  died."  Aubrey, 
"Letters,"  III.,  449,  records  that  "he  died  of  the  goute  struck  in  the  9  or  10 
November,  1674,  as  appears  by  his  'Apothecaries'  Books.'  Johnson  says  about  the 
10th  of  November;  and  Mr.  Hayley  on  the  15th." 


|  HAT  Milton  was  in  the  habit  of  employing  a  Friend  or  Amanuensis 
before  he  was  blind,  is  proved  by  the  fact  of  one  of  his  Sonnets, 
No.  VIII.  in  the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  having  been  corrected  by 
himself,  as  seen  in  the  alteration  in  the  heading  to  that  Sonnet, 
of  which  an  Electro-Block  fac-simile  is  given,  page  57. 
The  person  by  whom  the  transcript  of  Sonnets  11,  12,  and  others  in  the  same 
volume,  were  executed,  appears  first  to  have  made  corrections  at  the  dictation  of  the 
author;  and  then,  as  in  the  case  of  Sonnets  11  and  12,  to  have  rewritten  them  more 
carefully  for  the  press,  as  shewn  in  the  edition  of  1673;  except  that,  in  some 
instances,  the  headings  of  the  Sonnets  are  altered,  or  altogether  omitted. 

The  Learned  Historian,  and  one  of  the  Biographers  of  Milton,  Dr.  Birch,  has 
recorded,1  that,  when  visiting  Mrs.  Foster,  grandaughter  to  the  poet,  in  January 
1749-50,  she  shewed  him  "her  grandmother's  Bible  in  octavo,2  printed  by  Young 
in  1636,  on  a  blank  leaf  of  which  Milton  has  entered,  with  his  own  hands,  the 
births  of  his  children."  The  last  entry  is  that  of  his  youngest  daughter,  Deborah, 
dated  May  2,  1652.  Below  these  entries  was  noted,  in  the  autograph  of  his  wife, 
"/  am  the  book  of  Mary  Milton." 

If  the  entry,  May  2,  1652,  is  in  the  autograph  of  the  Poet,  then  it  is  very 
certain  he  was  at  that  time  not  totally  blind.  Had  the  entry  not  been  in  the  auto- 
graph of  the  Poet,  it  is  most  likely  Dr.  Birch  would  have  so  stated. 

Edward  Phillips,  in  his  Memoir,  1694,  pp.  xxxiii-iv,  states,  when  alluding  to  the 
second  marriage  of  his  Uncle, 

"  This,  his  Second  Marriage  [November  1656],  was  about  Two  or  Three  years  after  his  being 
wholly  depriv'd  of  Sight,  which  was  just  going,  about  the  time  of  his  Answering  Salmasius; 
whereupon  his  Adversaries  gladly  take  occasion  of  imputing  his  blindness  as  a  judgment  upon  him 
for  his  Answering  the  King's  Book,  etc.,  whereas  it  is  most  certainly  known,  that  his  Sight,  what 
with  his  continual  Study,  his  being  subject  to  the  Head-ake,  and  his  perpetual  tampering  with 
Physick  to  preserve  it,  had  been  decaying  for  above  a  dozen  years  before,  and  the  sight  of  one 
for  a  long  time  clearly  lost." 

Toland,  one  of  the  earliest  of  his  biographers,  records  : 

"  He  had  become  utterly  blind  two  or  three  years  before  his  second  marriage,  having  lost  the 
use  of  his  left  eye  in  1651,  and,  according  to  his  biographers,  that  of  the  other  in  1654  ;  but  I  am 
inclined  to  suppose  that  he  experienced  the  misfortune  of  total  darkness  before  the  latter  date  ;  for 


1  MILTON.  A  Sheaf  of  Gleanings  after  his 
Biographers  and  Commentators.  By  Joseph 
Hunter.  1850,  8vo.,  p.  34. 


2  We  have  no  trace  as  to  whom  the  copy  of 
the  Bible  now  belongs  to. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON.  169 


in  Thurloe's  State  Papers  there  is  the  following  passage  in  a  letter  from  the  Hague,  dated  20  Junii, 
1653  :  '  Vous  avez  en  Angleterre  un  aveuyle  nomine  Milton,  qui  a  le  renom  d'avoir  bien  escrit.'" 

In  a  letter,1  dated  December  13,  1652,  "To  KICHARD  HETH,"  one  of  his  former 
pupils,  Milton  writes : 

"  Tour  future  communications  may,  if  you  please,  be  in  our  own  language,  lest  (though  you  are 
no  mean  proficient  in  Latin  composition)  the  labour  of  writing  should  make  each  of  us  more  averse 
to  write  ;  and  that  we  may  freely  disclose  every  sensation  of  our  hearts  without  being  impeded  by 
the  shackles  of  a  foreign  language." 

If  the  expression  in  the  words,  "  the  labour  of  writing"  here  means  the  exercise 
of  the  pen,  it  is  clear  that  Milton  was,  though  almost  blind,  still  able  to  write.  In 
the  next  of  the  "Familiar  Letters,"  No.  XIV.,  dated  July  6,  1654,  "To  HENRY 
OLDENBURGH,  Aulic  Counsellor  of  the  Senate  of  Bremen,"  the  Poet  remarks  : 

"  If  my  health,  and  the  deprivation  of  my  sight,  which  is  more  grievous  than  all  the  infirmities 
of  age,  or  of  the  cries  of  those  impostors,  will  permit,  I  shall  readily  be  led  to  engage  in  other 
undertakings,  though  I  know  not  whether  they  can  be  more  noble  or  more  useful ;  for  what  can  be 
more  noble  or  more  useful  than  to  vindicate  the  liberty  of  man  ?" 

In  the  Letter,  No.  XV.,  dated  from  "Westminster,  Sept.  28,  1654,"  "To  LEO- 
NARD PHILARAS,  the  Athenian,"  it  is  evidently  seen  by  the  subjoined  extract, 
that  Milton  had  not  at  that  period  abandoned  all  hope  of  recovering  the  use  of  his 
right  eye  : 

jlHOUGH  I  was  known  to  you  only  by  my  writings,  and  we  were  removed  to  such  a 
distance  from  each  other,  you  most  courteously  addressed  me  by  letter;  and  when  you 
unexpectedly  came  to  London,  and  saw  me  who  could  no  longer  see,  my  affliction, 
which  causes  none  to  regard  me  with  greater  admiration,  and  perhaps  many  even 
with  contempt,  excited  your  tenderest  sympathy  and  concern. 

"  You  would  not  suffer  me  to  abandon  the  hope  of  recovering  my  sight ;  and 
informed  me  that  you  had  an  intimate  friend  at  Paris,  Doctor  Thevenot,  who  was  particularly 
celebrated  in  disorders  of  the  eyes,  whom  you  would  consult  about  mine,  if  I  would  enable  you  to 
lay  before  him  the  causes  and  symptoms  of  the  complaint.  I  will  do  what  you  desire,  lest  I  should 
seem  to  reject  that  aid  which  perhaps  may  be  offered  me  by  Heaven.  It  is  now,  I  think,  about  ten 
years  since  I  perceived  my  vision  to  grow  weak  and  dull;  and  at  the  same  time  I  was  troubled  with  pain 
in  my  kidneys  and  bowels,  accompanied  with  flatulency.  In  the  morning,  if  I  began  to  read,  as  was 
my  custom,  my  eyes  instantly  ached  intensely,  but  were  refreshed  after  a  little  corporeal  exercise. 
The  candle  which  I  looked  at,  seemed  as  it  were  encircled  with  a  rainbow.  Not  long  after,  the  sight 
in  the  left  part  of  the  left  eye  (which  I  lost  some  years  before  the  other)  became  quite  obscured  ;  and 
prevented  me  from  discerning  any  object  on  that  side.  The  sight  in  my  other  eye  has  now  been 
gradually  and  sensibly  vanishing  away  for  about  three  years  ;  some  months  before  it  had  entirely 
perished,  though  I  stood  motionless,  everything  which  I  looked  at  seemed  in  motion  to  and  fro. 
A  stiff  cloudy  vapour  seemed  to  have  settled  on  my  forehead  and  temples,  which  usually  occasions  a 
sort  of  somnolent  pressure  upon  my  eyes,  and  particularly  from  dinner  till  the  evening.  So  that 
I  often  reccollect  what  is  said  of  the  poet  Phineas  in  the  Argonauiics  : — 

'  A  stupor  deep  his  cloudy  temples  bound, 
And  when  he  walk'd  he  seem'd  as  whirling  round, 
Or  in  a  feeble  trance  he  speechless  lay.' 

1  Familiar  Letters,  No.  XIII. 


170  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


I  ought  not  to  omit  that  while  I  had  any  sight  left,  as  soon  as  I  lay  down  on  my  bed  and  turned  on 
either  side,  a  flood  of  light  used  to  gush  from  my  closed  eyelids.  Then,  as  my  sight  became  daily 
more  impaired,  the  colours  became  more  faint,  and  were  emitted  with  a  certain  inward  crackling 
sound ;  but  at  present,  every  species  of  illumination  being,  as  it  were,  extinguished,  there  is 
diffused  around  me  nothing  but  darkness,  or  darkness  mingled  and  streaked  with  an  ashy  brown. 
Yet  the  darkness  in  which  I  am  perpetually  immersed,  seems  always,  both  by  night  and  dav,  to 
approach  nearer  to  white  than  black ;  and  when  the  eye  is  rolling  in  its  socket,  it  admits  a  little 
particle  of  light,  as  through  a  chink.  And  though  your  physician  may  kindle  a  small  ray  of  hope, 
yet  I  make  up  my  mind  to  the  malady  as  quite  incurable ;  and  I  often  reflect,  that,  as  the  wise  man 
admonishes,  days  of  darkness  are  destined  to  each  of  us,  the  darkness  which  I  experience,  less 
oppressive  than  that  of  the  tomb,  is,  owing  to  the  singular  goodness  of  the  Deity,  passed  amid  the 
pursuits  of  literature  and  the  cheering  salutations  of  friendship,  But  if,  as  is  written,  '  Man  sliall  not 
live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  from  the  mouth  of  God,'  why  may  not  any 
one  acquiesce  in  the  privation  of  his  sight,  when  God  has  so  amply  furnished  his  mind  and  his 
conscience  with  eyes  ?  While  he  so  tenderly  provides  for  me,  while  he  so  graciously  leads  me  by  the 
hand,  and  conducts  me  on  the  way,  I  will,  since  it  is  his  pleasure,  rather  rejoice  than  repine  at  being 
blind.  And,  my  dear  Philaras,  whatever  may  be  the  event,  I  wish  you  adieu  with  no  less  courage 
and  composure  than  if  I  had  the  eyes  of  a  lynx." 

Lamartine  gives  the  subjoined  very  interesting  extract  of  a  letter  from  Milton 
to  a  friend,  a  foreigner,  in  which,  as  in  the  preceding  letter,  the  Poet  again  alludes 
to  the  employment  of  his  youthful  Amanuensis.  The  letter  is  not  among  those 
published  in  the  "  Familiar  Letters,"  nor  does  Lamartine  state  whence  he  obtained 
his  copy  of  it. 

"  They  charge  me  with  poverty,  because  I  have  never  desired  to  become  rich  dishonestly ;  tliry 
accuse  me  of  blindness,  because  I  have  lost  my  eyes  in  the  service  of  liberty;  they  tax  me  with 
cowardice,  and  while  I  had  the  use  of  my  eyes  and  my  sword  I  never  feared  the  boldest  amongst 
them ;  finally,  I  am  upbraided  with  deformity,  while  no  one  was  more  handsome  in  the  age  of 
beauty.  I  do  not  even  complain  of  my  want  of  sight ;  in  the  night  with  which  I  am  surrounded, 
the  light  of  the  Divine  presence  shines  with  a  more  brilliant  lustre.  God  looks  down  upon  me  with 
more  tenderness  and  compassion,  because  I  can  now  see  none  but  Himself.  Misfortune  should 
protect  me  from  insult  and  render  me  sacred,  not  because  I  am  deprived  of  the  light  of  heaven,  but 
because  I  am  under  the  shadow  of  the  Divine  wings  which  have  enveloped  me  with  this  darkness. 
To  that  alone  I  attribute  the  assiduous  kindness  of  my  friends,  their  consoling  attentions,  their 
frequent,  cordial  visits,  and  their  respectful  complaisance."  "My  devotion  to  my  country," — he 
again  writes  in  another  letter  to  the  same  friend, — "  has  scarcely  rewarded  me,  and  yet  that  sweet 
name  of  country  charms  me  still.  Adieu  !  I  pray  you  to  excuse  the  inaccurate  Latin  of  this  letter. 
The  child  to  whom  I  am  compelled  to  dictate  it,  is  ignorant  of  that  language,  and  I  spell  every  syllable 
over  to  him,  that  you  may  be  enabled  to  read  my  inmost  soul."1 

Inasmuch  as  all  the  information  conveyed  by  the  learned  biographers  of  Milton 
in  their  own  more  dilated  and  elegant  language,  has  been  founded  upon  what  has 
been  given  in  the  preceding  authorities,  it  appears  quite  needless  to  quote  their 
views  in  support  of  any  statements  here  mentioned,  derived  from  the  original 
sources,  on  the  cause  and  period  of  the  blindness  of  the  Poet,  concerning  which  more 
particulars  are  not  likely  ever  to  be  obtained. 

1  Memoirs  of  Celebrated  Characters,  by  Alphonse  de  Lamartine.  2  vols.,  1854.  IL'Huii,  vol.  ii., 
p.  16. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


171 


THE    AMANUENSES    OF    MILTON    CONSIDERED. 


HERE    is    something   peculiarly   touching  in   the   idea   of  the 
youngest  daughter  of  Milton  employing  her  pen  in  writing,  at 
the  dictation  of  her  father,  then   totally  bereft  of  sight,  the 
immortal  lines  of  his  PARADISE  LOST.     We  can  imagine  with 
what  enthusiasm  and  reverential  awe  she  would  inscribe  those 
Heaven-born  conceptions  which   have  perpetuated   his   name 
amongst  England's  Sublimest  Poets.     The  supposed  fact  has 
been  chronicled   by  his  Biographers,   and   sculptured   and   pencilled   by  eminent 
Artists.     But,  alas !  like  many  other  fallacies,  it  derives  its  origin  more  from  the 
imagination  than  from  reality. 

Painful,  therefore,  as  must  be  the  duty  of  dissipating  an  illusion  so  universally 
believed,  we  proceed  to  examine  upon  what  authority  the  generally  allowed  fact  is 
based.  We  discover,  first,  that  it  has  no  other  foundation  than  the  hearsay  testi- 
mony of  the  antiquarian  author,  AuBREY,1  who,  mentioning  the  marriage,  in  his 
biographical  Memoranda  of  the  Poet,  states  : 


at  Shotorer, 


"  He  maried  his  first  wife Powell,  of  Fost-Hill  in  Oxonsliire.  She  was  a  zealous  Roy- 
alist, and  went  wliout  her  husband's  consent  to  her  mother  in  the  King's  quarters.  She  went  from 
him  to  her  mothers  at in  ye  King's  quarters,  neer  Oxford.]  She  dyed  A°  D"1 " 

"  A"  Dni [sic]  by  whom  he  had  4  children.     Hath  two  daughters  living ;  Deborah  was 

Ms  amanuensis :  he  taught  her  Latin,  and  to  reade  Greeke,  '  and  Hebrew,  qu.  erased '  to  him.  when 

he  lost  his  eie  sight,  woh  was  A°  D"1 " 

Such  is  the  scanty  information  conveyed  by  Aubrey  in  the  very  loosely  written 
biographical  Memoranda  relating  to  the  Poet,  in  respect  to  his  youngest  daughter 
having  been  his  AMANUENSIS.  Had  Aubrey  merely  recorded  that  the  youngest 
Daughter  of  Milton  had  been  able,  at  an  early  period  of  her  life,  to  be  of  some 
assistance  to  her  father  in  the  employment  of  her  pen,  such  a  fact  might  have  been 
thoroughly  understood.  But  when  he  states  that  "Deborah  was  his  Amanuensis," 


1  These  Memoranda  by  Aubrey  are  the  earliest 
on  record,  save  those  of  far  more  value  and 
importance  in  the  autobiography  of  Milton, 
embodied  in  his  Second  Defence  of  the  People 
of  England,  first  printed  in  1652.  The  Memo- 
randa are  in  the  autograph  of  Aubrey,  and  are 
preserved  in  the  Ashmolean  Library  at  Oxford. 

Antiquarian  Authors  in  those  days  were  not 


very  particularly  accurate  in  all  the  minutiffi 
they  desired  to  record.  Nowhere  else  is  it 
stated  that  the  Wife  of  Milton  left  him  without 
his  consent.  She  lengthened  her  visit  to  her 
parents  far  beyond  the  time  named  by  him. 
That  circumstance  first  caused  the  breach ;  cool- 
ness followed,  and  the  separation  ensued. 


22  2 


172 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


one  can  have  no  alternative  but  to  receive  the  expression  in  the  fulness  of  its 
meaning ;  namely,  that  to  her  alone  was  confided  the  occupation  of  writing  at  the 
dictation  of  her  Father. 

In  the  extract  from  Aubrey  it  is  seen  that  no  dates  are  inserted,  and  that  even 
the  Christian  name  of  the  first  wife  of  the  Poet  is  not  mentioned.  Aubrey  was 
wrong  in  stating  that  only  two  of  the  Daughters  of  Milton  survived  the  Poet.  A 
few  lines  after  we  find  that  Aubrey  relates  that, 

•c.  at  4  o'clock  mant, 

"  He  was  an  early  riser,  yea,  after  lie  lost  his  sight.  He  had  a  man  [to]  read  to  him.  The  first 
thing  he  read  was  the  Hebrew  Bible,  and  that  was  at  4  li.  mane  ^  h  [gic].  -\-  . .  then  he  contemplated. 
At  7  his  man1  came  to  him  again,  and  then  read  to  him  and  wrote  till  dinner ;  the  writing  was  as  much 
as  the  reading.  His  2d  daughter,  Deborah,  could  read  to  him  Latin,  Ital.  and  French  and  Greeke." 

In  this  extract  we  learn  that  "  his  man"  came  to  him  daily,  and  that  he  was  as 
much  occupied  in  writing  as  in  reading.  Aubrey  here  gives  no  dates ;  but  as  he 
mentions  Deborah  Milton,  we  must  presume  he  considered  she  was  still  with  her 
Father,  though  her  occupation  as  Amanuensis  had  been  superseded  by  the  employ- 
ment of  a  man  in  that  capacity.  Had  this  man  been  any  friend  of  the  Poet,  we 
have  a  right  to  presume  Aubrey  would  not  have  styled  him  "  a  man." 

After  having  recorded  these  and  a  few  other  trifling  memoranda,  Aubrey  begins 
again  with  other  notices,  first  entering  the  date  of  the  birth  of  the  Poet,  which  in  his 
previous  Memoranda  he  had  omitted,  evidently  from  his  want  of  knowledge  on  that 
point.  Following  that,  he  adds,  as  if  from  the  information  of  the  Nephew  of  Milton, 

"  From  Mr.  E.  Phillips  : — '  His  invention  was  much  more  free  and  easie  in  the  equinoxes  than  in 
the  solstices  ;  as  he  more  particularly  found  in  writing  his  Paradisi:  Lost.  Mr.  Edw.  Phillips  (his 
nephew  and  then  amanuensis)  hath,  erased.'  All  the  time  of  writing  his  Paradise  Lost,  his  veine 
began  at  the  Autumnall  Equinoctiall,  and  ceased  at  the  Vernall,  or  thereabouts  (I  believe  about  May), 
this  was  4  or  5  yeares  of  his  doeing  it.  He  began  about  2  yeares  before  the  K.  came  in,  and  finished 
about  3  years  after  the  K.'s  restanracion." 

"In  the  2nd  or  3rd,  erased"  [4th]  booke  of  Paradise  Lost,  there  are  about  6  verses  of  Satan's 
exclamation  to  the  sun,  wch  Mr.  E.  Phi.  remembers  about  15  or  16  yeares  before  ever  his  Poem  was 
thought  of;  w""  verses  were  intended  for  the  beginning  of  a  tragcedie,  wch  he  had  designed,  but  was 
diverted  from  it  by  other  besinesse." 

Here  it  is  seen  that  Aubrey  had  considered  that  Edward  Phillips  was  Amanu- 
ensis to  his  Uncle  during  the  period  of  the  composition  of  Paradise  Lost. 

E.  Phillips,  in  the  Memoir  of  his  Uncle  published  in  1694,  makes  no  mention 
whatever  of  either  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Poet  having  been  employed  as  his 
Amanuensis,  nor  of  himself  having  been  so.  He  is  quite  silent  on  that  point. 

While  we  take  leave  to  allude  to  the  occasional  inaccuracies  of  Aubrey  in  his 
very  few  notes,  we  have  been  equally  observant  of  those  made  by  E.  Phillips ;  see 
p.  24.  In  addition  to  the  inaccuracies  of  the  latter,  we  notice  that  he  records 


1  That  Milton  had  a  professional  Amanuensis 
before  he  was  really  blind,  is  evident  from  the 
statement  of  Edward  Phillips, — Memoir,  1694, 


p.  xxxiv. — that  "he  wrote  by  his  .A wn< /<>„.<;.•,• 
his  Two  Answers  to  Alexander  More,  the  first 
edition  of  First  Defence  appearing  in  1651." 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


173 


the  birth  of  his  Uncle  as  taking  place  in  1606  in  lieu  of  1608;  and  that  he  died  in 
November  1673  instead  of  1674.  It  is,  however,  a  question  whether  ten  sons  or 
ten  nephews  in  a  hundred,  would,  in  a  piece  of  off-hand  biography,  not  commit 
errors  of  a  similar  nature ;  and,  in  respect  to  the  Memoranda  made  by  Aubrey,  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  they  were  probably  intended  only  as  materials  for  a 
more  extended  Memoir  of  Milton  at  a  future  time.  As  such  only  are  they  deserving 
of  being  referred  to  as  of  authority. 

In  mentioning  Paradise  Lost,  E.  Phillips  records,  p.  xxxvi.  : 

"  There  is  another  very  remarkable  Passage  in  the  Composure  of  this  Poem,  which  I  have  a 
particular  occasion  to  remember ;  for  whereas  I  had  the  perusal  of  it  from  the  very  beginning ;  for 
some  years  as  I  went  from  time  to  time  to  visit  him,  in  a  Parcel  of  Ten,  Twenty,  or  Thirty  Verses  at 
a  time,  which  being  Written  by  whatever  hand  came  next,  might  possibly  want  Correction  as  to  the 
Orthography  and  Pointing  ;  having  as  the  Summer  came  on,  not  been  shewed  any  for  a  considerable 
while,  and  desiring  the  reason  thereof,  was  answered,  That  his  Vein  never  happily  flow'd,  but  from 
the  Autumnal  Equinoctial  to  the  Vernal,  and  that  whatever  he  attempted  was  never  to  his  satisfaction, 
though  he  courted  his  fancy  never  so  much ;  so  that  in  all  the  years  he  was  about  this  Poem,  he  may 
be  said  to  have  spent  but  half  his  time  therein."1 

In  the  Picture  Gallery  of  this  year,  1860,  at  The  Crystal  Palace,  Sydenham, 
there  is  a  painting,  by  Henry  Anelay,  representing  a  Soldier  writing  at  the  dictation 
of  Milton.  On  inquiring  of  the  Artist  what  authority  he  had  for  his  design,  he 
informs  us  that  he  took  the  idea  from  the  preceding  fact  recorded  by  E.  Phillips.  It 
is  a  veiy  clever  and  admirably  painted  Memorial  of  the  Poet. 

The  fact  of  Milton  having  stated,  in  a  letter2  to  PETER  HEINBACH,  dated 
"August  15, 1666,"  that  the  cause  of  the  many  errors  in  his  Paradise  Lost,  was  owing 
to  the  total  ignorance  of  the  boy  by  whom  it  was  written,  is  no  proof  whatever  that 
the  Poet  was  at  that  period  without  the  means  of  obtaining,  or  that  he  had  not,  an 
Amanuensis  on  whom  he  could  rely.  It  may  have  happened  that  his  Amanuensis 
was  at  that  time  absent;  and  that,  as  Milton  was  desirous  of  sending  the  letter  to 
his  friend,  he  was  glad  to  avail  himself  of  the  first  he  could  obtain  to  write  it  for 
him.  The  dictation  of  a  letter  in  Latin,  "  not  the  words,  but  the  letters,  one  by  one, 
of  which  they  were  composed,"  must  have  been  so  irksome  to  Milton,  that  we  cannot 
suppose  that  the  boy  mentioned  by  him  was  the  only  person  who  aided  him  in  what 
was  one  of  the  few  consolations  of  his  declining  years. 


1  We  know  not  from  what  edition  of  the 
Memoir,  Mr.  Keightley  has  copied,  p.  7'3,  this 
extract.  His  differs  in  the  wording,  in  many 
instances,  from  that  in  the  edition  of  1694.  In 
giving  a  quotation  from  any  work,  the  original, 
in  all  respects,  should,  we  think,  be  strictly 
adhered  to,  if  the  extract  is  to  be  considered 


hereafter  as  an  authority.  We  do  not  mean  to 
infer  that  Mr.  Keightley  has  done  more  than 
to  modernize  and  alter  a  few  words,  to  make,  in 
his  opinion,  the  meaning  of  the  original  clearer. 


2  Familiar  Letters,  No.  XXXI. 


174 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


HE  DAUGHTERS  OF  MILTOX.  Most  painful  -would  be  the  task  of 
entering  into  a  minute  investigation  as  to  the  truth  of  Milton 
having  acted  unnaturally  to  his  Daughters,  or  of  his  Daughters 
having  treated  their  Father  with  neglect.  Milton  is  not  the  first 
most  learned  man,  who,  from  having  been  almost  entirely 
absorbed  by  his  studies,  has  been  accused  of  utterly  neglecting 
the  education  of  his  children.  He  had  indulged  the  hope,  when 
marrying  his  first  wife,  that  he  would  have  possessed  in  her  a  suitable  companion. 
He  found,  however,  as  thousands  of  others  have  done  before  and  after  him,  that, 
under  the  seductive  charms  of  outward  beauty,  there  was  an  absence  of  all  capability 
to  receive  and  communicate  that  intellectual  enjoyment  which  he  fondly  anticipated 
would  form  much  of  their  mutual  happiness.  Great  was  his  disappointment.  He 
had  married  the  daughter  of  a  Royalist,- one  whose  opinions  were  totally  opposite  to 
his  own.  She  was,  no  doubt,  influenced  in  her  consent  to  the  marriage,  by  the  fame 
and  personal  appearance  of  Milton,  who  was  at  that  time  stated  to  have  been 
remarkably  handsome.  She  soon  discovered  that  she  had  married  one  in  whose 
pursuits  she  had  neither  the  inclination  nor  the  ability  to  participate.  She  therefore, 
within  a  few  weeks  after  her  union  with  the  Poet,  obtained  his  consent  to  pay  a 
visit  to  her  parents;  and  it  is  more  than  probable,  that,  had  she  not  heard  of  his 
attachment  to  another  Lady,  whom  he  was  in  hopes,  by  an  alteration  in  the  law  of 
Divorce,  to  marry,  she  would  never  have  rejoined  him. 

The  circumstances  of  the  reunion  of  Milton  with  his  wife,  in  1645,  after  a 
separation  of  two  years,  have  been  already  amply  detailed;  see  pp.  20-1.  What- 
ever may  be  the  opinion  of  some  of  his  biographers,  there  is  no  evidence1  to  prove, 
that,  after  Milton  had  received  back  his  wife,  he  had  cause  to  repent  of  an  act  which 
could  not  but  be  hailed  by  his  friends  as  one  worthy  of  his  noble  nature.  He  was 
not,  however,  destined  long  to  participate  in  the  mutual  comforts  of  his  then  happy 
state.  His  Wife  died  in  1652,  leaving  him  three  infant  children. 

Thus  was  Mil  ton,- then  Latin  Secretary  to  the  Council  of  State,- whose  pen  had 
for  some  time  previously  been  instrumental  in  promoting  and  encouraging  the  Acts 
of  the  Usurper  Cromwell,  left,  in  the  midst  of  his  laborious  official  duties,  with  the 
care  of  an  infant  family.  He  was  at  that  time  nearly  approaching  to  total  blind- 
ness; and,  domestically,  in  an  almost  helpless  state.  Unlike  the  Great  Reformer, 
the  "  Mild"  MELANCHTHON,2  Milton  was  not  of  a  temperament  likely  to  be  found 


1  We  understand,  however,  that,  with  some 
family  resident  in  Berkshire,  exist  some  Auto- 
graph Letters  of  Milton  to  his  wife, — Letters 
not  of  a  very  affectionate  nature. 


2  MELANCUTHON.  "  Neither  Melanchthon's  at- 
tachment to  literature,  nor  his  multifarious 
engagements  in  public,  seduced  him  from  the 
cultivation  of  domestic  feelings  and  the  discharge 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


175 


dictating  one  of  his  "  Letters  of  State"  while  employed  in  tending  his  children  and 
rocking  the  cradle  of  an  infant  daughter. 

In  those  days  there  were  no  schools  for  the  special  education  of  the  daughters 
of  those  whom  misfortune  had  reduced  from  a  wealthy  position  in  society,  to  qualify 
them,  at  a  comparatively  early  age,  to  take  the  charge  of  infant  children.  Conse- 
quently Milton,  feeling  his  utter  state  of  domestic  misery,  wisely  sought  and 
obtained  the  affections  of  one  to  whom  he  might  confide  the  charge  of  his  children, 
and  find  solace  to  himself.  Accordingly,  in  1656,  November  12,  he  married  a  second 
time.  He  was  not,  however,  destined  long  to  experience  the  happiness  he  had  anti- 
cipated, as  within  a  very  short  time,  February  165«,  his  Wife  died  in  childbed,  the 
infant  surviving  the  mother  only  a  few  hours. 

At  the  period  of  the  third1  marriage  of  Milton,  his  three  Daughters  were  con- 
secutively of  the  ages  of  seventeen,  fifteen,  and  eleven.  They  were  then,  no  doubt, 
all  of  sufficient  age  to  make  themselves  useful  in  the  domestic  arrangements  of  the 
house,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  able  to  supply  the  constant  wants  of  their  almost 
helpless  Father.  It  was,  therefore,  perfectly  natural  in  Milton,  in  his  blind  state, 
to  endeavour  to  bring  them  up  so  that  their  instruction  should  be  in  some  way 
available  to  his  particular  necessities.  Accordingly,  in  lieu  of  allowing  them  to  be 
first  taught  the  rudiments  of  education,  Milton,  thoroughly  versed  in  many  Lan- 
guages, had  them  taught  to  read  and  pronounce  Hebrew,  Latin,  and  other  tongues. 
Milton,  therefore,  made  his  Daughters 

"  serviceable  to  him  in  that  very  particular  in  which  he  most  wanted  their  Service,  and  supplied 
his  want  of  Eye-sight  by  their  Eyes  and  Tongue  ;  for  though  he  had  daily  about  him  one  or  other  to 
Read  to  him,  some  persons  of  Man's  Estate,  who  of  their  own  accord  greedily  catch'd  at  the  oppor- 
tunity of  being  his  Readers,  that  they  might  as  well  reap  the  benefit  of  what  they  Read  to  him,  as 
oblige  him  by  the  benefit  of  their  reading  ;  others  of  younger  years  sent  by  their  Parents  to  the  same 
end,  yet  excusing  only  the  Eldest  Daughter  by  reason  of  her  bodily  Infirmity,  and  difficult  utterance 
of  Speech,  (which  to  say  truth  I  doubt  was  the  Principal  cause  of  excusing  her)  the  other  two  were 
Condemn'd  to  the  performance  of  Reading,  and  exactly  pronouncing  of  all  the  Languages  of  what 


of  parental  duties." — "  The  habits  of  studious 
men  have  sometimes  been  represented  as  tend- 
ing to  disqualify  them  for  the  familiar  inter- 
course of  domestic  or  social  life." — "  Melan- 
chthon  may  be  appealed  to"  as  a  pleasing  illus- 
tration to  the  contrary.  "A  Frenchman  one 
day  found  him  holding  a  book  in  one  hand,  and 
rocking  his  child's  cradle  with  the  other.  Upon 
his  manifesting  considerable  surprise,  Melan- 
chthon  took  occasion,  from  the  incident,  to  con- 
verse with  his  visitor  on  the  duties  of  parents, 
and  on  the  regard  of  heaven  for  little  children, 
in  such  a  pious  and  affectionate  manner,  that  his 
astonishment  was  quickly  transferred  into  admi- 
ration." 


Gathered  from  the  contemporary  biographer 
of  the  Reformer,  and  personal  friend,  CAMERA- 
RIDS,  the  above  anecdote  is  related,  with  many 
others  equally  interesting,  in  "  The  Life  of  Philip 
MelamhtJtan,"  by  F.  A.  Cox,  A.M.,  of  Hackney. 
8vo.,  1815,  pp.  152-3. 

1  There  is  no  record  as  to  whether  Milton 
married  his  third  wife  in  1663  or  1664.  Aubrey, 
Phillips,  and  Toland,  the  earliest  of  his  biogra- 
phers, make  no  mention  of  the  year.  The  many 
documents  relative  to  the  Nuncupative  Will  of 
Milton,  and  other  family  matters,  do  not  men- 
tion the  date. 


176 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


ever  Book  he  should  at  one  time  or  other  think  fit  to  peruse.  Viz.  the  Hebrew  (and  I  think  the  Syriac) 
the  Greek,  the  Latin,  the  Italian,  Spanish  and  French.  All  which  sorts  of  Books  to  be  confined  to 
Read,  without  understanding  one  word,  must  needs  be  a  Tryal  of  Patience,  almost  beyond  endurance ; 
yet  it  was  endured  by  both  for  a  long  time,  yet  the  irksomeness  of  this  imployment  could  not  be 
always  concealed,  but  broke  out  more  and  more  into  expressions  of  uneasiness ;  so  that  at  length  they 
were  all  (even  the  eldest  also)  sent  out  to  learn  some  Curious  and  Ingenious  sorts  of  Manufacture, 
that  are  proper  for  Women  to  learn,  particularly  Imbroideries  in  Gold  or  Silver.  It  had  been  happy 
indeed  if  the  Daughters  of  such  a  Person  had  been  made  in  some  measure  Inheritrixes  of  their 
Father's  Learning  ;  but  since  Fate  otherwise  decreed,  the  greatest  honour  that  can  be  ascribed  to  this 
now  living  (and  so  would  have  been  to  the  others  had  they  lived)  is  to  be  Daughter  to  a  man  of  his 
extraordinary  Character."1 


INNE  MILTON.  It  is  seen  by  the  preceding,  that  ANNE,2  the  eldest 
Daughter,  was  incapacitated  by  affliction  to  perform  the  task  allotted 
to  her,  and  was  consequently  excused.  That  she  had  not  been  taught 
to  write  is  clearly  proved,- unless  from  any  illness  she  was  incapaci- 
tated,- by  the  subjoined,  which  represents  her  marl?  to  the  Eelease 
for  her  portion  of  her  Father's  Estate,- dated,  February  24,  1674. 


In  editing  the  "  Papers  connected  with  the  Affairs  of  Milton  and  his  Fainily," 
in  the  first  volume  of  the  " Chetham  Miscellanies"  Mr.  Marsh  notes,  p.  1 8,  that 
"  the  words,  '  Signum  Anne  Milton,'  are  in  Richard  Milton's  handwriting";  prefacing 
the  note  that  Richard,  who  was  one  of  the  Witnesses  to  the  deed,  was  probably  a 
Son  of  Christopher  Milton. 


Memoir  in  "  State  Letters,"  1694,  pp.  xli-ii. 


*  ANNE,  the  Eldest  Daughter  of  Milton,  was 
born  the  29th  of  July,  1646.  Nature  had  at  her 
birth  not  completed  its  task.  She  was  afflicted 
with  much  infirmity  from  the  deformities  of  her 
body,  and  her  speech  was  defective.  She  mar- 
ried an  architect  or  master  builder,  and  died 


in  childbed  with  her  first  infant,  who  did  not 
survive  its  birth. 

3  From  the  plate  of  Miltonian  Fac-Similes  in 
the  volume  issued  by  the  u  Chetham  Society," 
1851.  Our  copy  is  another  specimen  by  the 
Electro-Printing-Block  Company,  as  are  the 
other  copies  of  the  fac-siruiles  of  the  Autograph 
Signatures,  Mary  and  Deborah,  following. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


177 


ARY  MILTON.     The  subjoined  fac-simile  of  the  autograph  signature  of 
MARY,1  from  the  deed  of  her  "  Release  for  the  portion  of  her  Father's 
Estate,"  dated  February  22,  1674,  proves  that  she  was  able  to  write; 
and  consequently,  the  charge  against  her  Father,  of  never  having  had 
her  taught  to  do  so,  ought  not  to  be  taken  to  the  full  extent  of  its 
She  may  have  taught  herself  to  write.     Certain  it  is,  judging  from  this 
specimen,  that  her  handwriting  was  of  a  very  ordinary  character;  and  it  is  a  remark- 


meaning. 


able  circumstance,  that,  in  writing  her  name,  she  has  spelt  it  wrong,  inserting  in  the 
word  "  Milton,"  two  I's  in  lieu  of  one.  It  may  be,  however,  hardly  fair  to  judge  of 
the  handwriting,  more  particularly  of  a  female,  when  employed  in  executing  a  deed. 
The  formalities  and  other  attending  circumstances  would  probably  confuse  her,  and 
affect  her  writing. 

Though  it  has  never  been  affirmed  that  Mary,  the  second  daughter,  acted  as 
Amanuensis  to  her  Father,  her  writing  tends  to  shew  that  she  was  not  very  capable 
of  discharging  such  a  duty. 


flEBORAH  MILTON.  It  frequently  occurs  that  the  youngest  child  in  a 
family  becomes  the  most  favoured.  Such  is  stated  to  have  been  the 
case,  on  the  part  of  her  Father,  in  respect  to  his  youngest  Daughter, 
DEBORAH.  Consequently,  much  interest  in  the  circumstances  con- 
nected with  her  life,  has  been  displayed  by  the  numerous  biographers 
The  account  given  of  her  by  Mr.  Marsh,2  is  so  concise  and  interesting 
that  we  have  not  hesitated  to  subjoin  it,  considering  that  the  little  memoir  itself 
will  be  of  far  more  interest  to  the  reader,  than  a  bare  statement  of  the  facts  therein 
related : 


of  the  Poet. 


1  MARY  MILTON,  the  Second  Daughter,  was 
born  October  25, 1648.  We  may  hope  that  the 
reports  of  her  ill  conduct  to  her  Father  are  no 
more  than  exaggerations  of  the  strong  language 
usually  adopted  in  legal  documents.  She  died 
unmarried. 


'  Papers  connected  with  Milton  and  his 
Family.  Edited  by  John  Fitehett  Marsh,  from 
the  Original  Documents  in  his  possession.  Chet- 
ham  Society,  1851,  vol.  xxiv. 


23 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


lEBORAH  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  the  Poet,  and  was  born  on  the  3rd  of 

1652.  She  was  Milton's  favorite  child,  and  acted  as  his  Amanuensis,  having 
learned  to  read  and  pronounce  with  great  exactness  the  Italian,  Spanish,  French, 
Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew  languages,  though  she  understood  none  of  them.  She 
appears  to  have  been,  of  the  three,  the  one  least  destitute  of  affection  for  her 
father;  but  even  she  was  no  exception  to  the  charge,  so  pathetically  alleged  HL 
his  children  by  the  afflicted  parent,  that  they  '  were  careless  of  him  being  blind,  and  made  nothing  of 
deserting  him.'  She  left  his  house  three  or  four  years  before  his  death,  and  went  to  Ireland,  as 
companion  to  a  lady  of  the  name  of  Merian.  Her  husband,  Abraham  Clarke,  is  stated  by  several  of 
Milton's  biographers  to  have  been  a  weaver  in  Spitalfields ;  and  Richardson  adds  that  she  married, 
not  only  without  her  father's  consent,  but  even  his  knowledge.  It  is,  however,  clear  from  her 
description  as  '  Deborah  Milton'  in  the  testamentary  cause,  that  her  marriage  was  subsequent  to  her 
father's  death :  and  indeed  the  pleadings  in  which  that  description  occurs,  and  the  release  here 
printed,  together  fix  the  date  of  her  marriage  as  between  the  5th  of  December,  1674,  and  the  27th  of 
March,  1675.  The  release  further  shews  that  her  husband,  at  the  time  of  the  marriage,  was  resident 
in  Dublin;  and  from  a  letter  of  Vertue,  in  the  British  Museum,  printed  in  Ivirney's  '•Life  of  Miltmi,' 
they  appear  to  have  remained  in  Ireland  for  some  time  afterwards.  Deborah  Clarke  was  visited  by 
Addison,  who  was  much  struck  with  her  resemblance  to  the  Poet,  and  made  her  a  liberal  present. 
She  spoke  with  tenderness  of  her  father,  and  exhibited  much  emotion  at  the  sight  of  a  portrait  of 
him.  Queen  Caroline  sent  her  fifty  guineas;  and  her  case  was  brought  before  the  public  in  Mist's 
Weekly  Journal,  on  the  29th  of  April,  1727.  She  died  on  the  27th  of  August  following,  in  the  same 
year  which  the  papers  here  printed  enable  us  to  fix  as  the  date  of  the  death  of  her  stepmother,  and 
probably  within  a  few  days  from  that  event.  Of  her  ten  children,  two  only  had  issue,  vizt.  Caleb  and 
Elizabeth.  Caleb  Clarke  went  out  to  Madras :  he  appears  to  have  been  Parish  Clerk  at  Fort  St. 
George  from  1717  to  1719,  (during  the  Governorship  of  the  Hon.  Galston  Addison,  the  elder  brother 
of  the  Editor  of  the  Spectator,)  and  was  buried  there  on  the  26th  of  October  in  the  latter  year.  He 
had  three  children  born  at  Madras, — Abraham,  Mary,  and  Isaac.  Mary  died  in  infancy;  Abraham 
married  Anna  Clarke  in  the  year  1725  ;  and  the  baptism  of  lu's  daughter  Mary  is  registered  in  1727. 
With  her  all  notices  of  this  family  cease,  nothing  further  being  known  either  of  her  or  of  her  father 
or  uncle ;  and  it  has  been  supposed  that  they  migrated  to  some  other  part  of  India.  Sir  James 
Mackintosh,  while  he  resided  in  India,  took  pains  to  ascertain  whether  any  further  trace  of  the  family 
existed ;  but  without  success.  Elizabeth,  the  remaining  child  of  Deborah  Clarke,  married  Thomas 
Foster,  also  a  Spitalfields  weaver.  She  kept  a  little  chandler's  shop  at  Holloway,  and  afterwards  in 
Cock  Lane,  near  Shoreditch  Church.  In  this  mean  position  she  was  discovered,  and  brought  forward 
to  public  notice  by  the  active  benevolence  of  two  of  her  grandfather's  biographers,  Dr.  Birch  and 
Bishop  Newton.  Public  sympathy  was  excited ;  and  Gomus  was  acted  for  her  benefit  on  the  5th  of 
April,  1750.  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  the  Prologue.  Bishop  Newton  contributed  largely;  and  Tonson, 
the  bookseller,  subscribed  £20.  But  it  was  ascertained  by  Todd  that  the  whole  proceeds  only 
amounted  to  £147 : 14 :  6 ;  out  of  which  £80  had  to  be  deducted  for  expenses.  She  had  seven 
children,  who  all  died  in  infancy  :  and,  with  their  mother,  who  died  on  the  9th  of  May,  1 754,  in  all 
probability  the  descendants  of  Milton  became  extinct." 

From  the  same  source  as  that  from  which  the  previous  fac-similes  were 
obtained,  is  subjoined  the  signature  of  Deborah  Milton,  then  the  Wife  of  Abraham 
Clarke,  whose  signature  is  also  given.  The  document  is  to  the  same  purport,  and 
bears  the  same  date  as  the  others. 

The  date  of  the  deed  to  which  these  signatures  are  attached,  shews  that  it  was 
signed  by  Deborah  at  the  age  of  twenty-three ;  we  have  here,  therefore,  a  specimen 
of  her  handwriting  at  that  age.  There  is  nothing  in  the  character  of  the  writing  to 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON.  179 


warrant  a  disbelief  of  her  having  been  able  occasionally  to  assist  as  Amanuensis 
to  her  Father.  It  is  curious,  however,  also  to  notice  the  singular  circumstance  of 
her  having,  in  the  first  instance,  spelt  her  married  name  wrong,  and  having  after- 
wards corrected  it.  Her  Christian  name  is  also  spelt  wrong,- the  a  in  the  final 
syllable  being  in  the  signature  written  as  o.  It  is  hardly  fair,  however,  to  judge  by 
the  above,  of  what  her  handwriting  may  have  been  when  assisting  her  Father,  if  she 
ever  did. 


Deborah  was  born  in  1652,  and  was  only  twenty-two  years  old  when  her  Father 
died.  At  the  period  of  his  composing,  from  first  to  last,  his  Paradise  Lost,  she  could 
not  have  been  more  than  from  eleven  to  fifteen  years  old,  the  first  edition  of  that 
poem  appearing  in  1667.  At  that  age,  however,  she  might  have  been  fully  capable, 
had  she  been  taught  early  to  write,  of  aiding  her  Father;  but  it  is  not  likely,  that, 
had  Deborah  been  employed  as  stated,  Edward  Phillips  would  have  omitted  to 
notice  that  fact.  In  the  concluding  part  of  the  passage,  p.  176,  quoted  from  this 
memoir,  there  is  nothing  to  justify  the  belief  of  one  Daughter  having  received  more 
advantages  in  her  education  than  the  others,  or  that  one  was  more  talented  than 
the  others.  He  writes  of  all  the  three  daughters  in  the  same  category,  concluding 
his  remarks  by  observing,  "  It  had  been  happy  indeed  if  the  Daughters  of  such  a 
Person  had  been  made  in  some  measure  Inheritrixes  of  their  Father's  Learning." 
Edward  Phillips  also  states  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  constantly  visiting  his 
Uncle,  more  particularly  during  the  period  of  the  composition  of  Paradise  Lost. 
The  Nephew,  therefore,  had  ample  opportunity  of  knowing  and  judging  of  the 
capabilities  of  his  Cousins.  There  is  no  trace  of  any  unkindness  in  his  narrative. 
He  was,  and  had  been,  an  Author  for  many  years,  and  therefore  could  not  but  lament 
that  they  had  been  so  incapable  of  affording  their  Father  any  assistance  in  his 
pursuits. 

Dr.  Johnson  appears  to  have  been  very  incredulous  upon  the  subject,  so  univer- 
sally believed,  of  Milton  having  been  assisted  by  his  Daughters  as  his  Amanuenses. 
Johnson  observes, 

"  That,  in  his  intellectual  hour,  Milton  called  for  his  daughter  to  '  secure  what  came,'  may  be 
questioned ;  for  unluckily  it  happens  to  be  known,  that  his  daughters  were  never  taught  to  write  ;  nor 


180 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OP 


would  he  have  been  obliged,  as  is  universally  confessed,  to  have  employed  any  casual  visitor  in  disbur- 
dening his  memory,  if  his  daughter  could  have  performed  the  office." 

Again,  when  commenting  on  the  relation  of  Eichardson,  that  Milton  "  would 
sometimes  lie  awake  whole  nights,  but  not  a  verse  could  he  make ;  and  on  a  sudden 
his  poetical  faculty  would  rush  upon  him  with  an  impetus  or  cestrum,  and  his 
daughter  was  immediately  called  to  secure  what  came.  At  other  times  he  would 
dictate  perhaps  forty  lines  in  a  breath,  and  then  reduce  them  to  half  the  number." 
Johnson  adds  : 

"  In  the  scene  of  misery  which  this  mode  of  intellectual  labour  sets  before  our  eyes,  it  is  hard  to 
determine  whether  the  daughters  or  the  father  are  most  to  be  lamented.  A  language  not  understood 
can  never  be  so  read  as  to  give  pleasure,  and,  very  seldom,  so  as  to  convey  meaning.  If  few  men 
would  have  had  resolution  to  write  books  with  such  embarrassments,  few  b'kewise  would  have  wanted 
ability  to  find  some  better  expedient."  In  again  mentioning  the  Daughters  of  the  Poet,  Johnson 
writes  of  Deborah :  "  This  is  the  Daughter  of  whom  publick  mention  has  been  made.  She  could 
repeat  the  first  lines  of  Homer,  the  Metamorphoses,  and  some  of  Euripides,  by  having  often  read 
them.  Yet  here  incredulity  is  ready  to  make  a  stand.  Many  repetitions  are  necessary  to  fix  in  the 
memory  lines  not  understood ;  and  why  should  Milton  wish  or  want  to  hear  them  so  often  ?  These 
lines  were  at  the  beginning  of  the  poems.  Of  a  book  written  in  a  language  not  understood,  the 
beginning  raises  no  more  attention  than  the  end ;  and  as  those  that  understand  it,  know  commonly 
the  beginning  best,  its  rehearsal  will  seldom  be  necessary.  It  is  not  likely  that  Milton  required 
any  passage  to  be  so  much  repeated,  as  that  his  daughter  could  learn  it ;  nor  likely  that  he  desired 
the  initial  lines  to  be  read  at  all ;  nor  that  the  daughter,  weary  of  the  drudgery  of  pronouncing 
unideal  sounds,  would  voluntarily  commit  them  to  memory." 

In  the  preceding  passages  it  is  clearly  seen  that  Johnson  was  much  inclined  to 
consider  the  anecdotes  related  of  the  Daughters  of  Milton  having  assisted  their 
Father,  as  rather  mythical. 


|  ERY  little  appears  to  have  been  recorded  in  respect  to  the  part  ELIZA- 
BETH, the  third  Wife  of  Milton,  took  in  the  education  of  his  Daughters. 
That  she  made  a  most  faithful  and  a  most  affectionate  Wife  to  the  Poet, 
is  generally  believed.  She  was,  however,  placed,  on  her  marriage,  in  a 
most  painful  situation.  She  entered  on  her  duties  with  the  onerous 
charge  of  three  girls,  all  of  that  age  when  the  control,  by  a  stranger  taking  the 
management  of  the  domestic  arrangement  of  their  Father's  house,  hitherto  confided 
to  their  charge,  would  naturally  be  most  unwillingly  submitted  to  by  them.  In  two- 
thirds  of  the  cases  where  a  widower,  having  a  family  by  his  former  wife,  marries 
again,  discord  and  jealousy  will  be  found  to  prevail.  Hence,  no  doubt,  have  arisen 
the  melancholy  details  related  of  the  conduct  of  the  Daughters  of  Milton  towards 
their  Father,  and,  vice  versd,  the  unkindness  of  their  Father  to  them.  If  all  the  little 
quarrels  and  disagreements  in  the  families  of  many  of  the  most  distinguished  men 
were  placed  on  record,  how  sad  would  be  the  relation  of  them  !  One  can  thoroughly 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


181 


understand  how  easily  the  feelings  of  such  an  excitable  man  as  Milton  were  disor- 
dered by  the  disagreement  of  his  Wife  and  Children,  between  whom  there  could  have 
been  no  natural,  or,  at  first,  any  mutual  affection.  Such  an  affection  between  Step- 
Daughters  of  their  age,  and  a  Step-Mother  so  suddenly  introduced  into  a  family, 
could  only  have  been  brought  about  by  time  and  mutual  forbearance.  As  to  any 
evidence  in  legal  documents  upon  such  points,  when  family  disagreements  take 
place,  they  should  be  considered  as  little  more  than  the  language  of  the  Lawyer  in 
making  good  his  case.  The  documents  connected  with  the  "Nuncupative  Will"  of 
Milton  strongly  exemplify  this  point. 

It  was  during  the  period  of  the  composition  of  Paradise  Lost,  that  Milton 
married  his  third  Wife.  She  is  said  to  have  been  one  who  was  "  still  young  and 
handsome,  who  became  the  soul  of  his  house,  and  the  mother  of  his  children.  She 
loved  him,  too,  despite  his  poverty  and  blindness."  Such  is  the  language  conveyed 
by  the  Historian  Lamartine  j1  language  far  more  agreeable  to  the  feelings  than  an 
assumption  of  the  very  reverse,  merely  on  the  authority  of  a  few  angry  words 
recorded  in  legal  documents,  at  a  time  when  the  minds  of  all  parties  were  excited 
beyond  the  natural  feelings  of  the  heart. 

Lamartine  appears  to  have  entertained  no  respect  for  the  opinions  of  those 
biographers  of  Milton  who  have  taken  pleasure  in  magnifying  and  distorting  the 
little  unhappy  differences  that  may  have  been  related.  In  the  subjoined  extract  he 
pictures  to  the  minds  of  his  readers  a  charming  scene  of  the  happiness  and  mutual 
aid  afforded  by  all  the  members  of  the  family  to  the  necessities  of  Milton  : 

"  His  last  wife,  Elizabeth.  Minshall,  and  his  three  daughters  were  constantly  with  him,  copying, 
repeating,  and  correcting  the  cantos  of  his  great  poem,  as  his  genius  progressively  inspired  them. 
He  composed  verses  during  the  night,  and  repeated  them  at  early  dawn,  before  the  noise  of  the  city, 
awakening  in  the  streets,  called  back  his  thoughts  to  things  terrestrial.  While  he  listened  to  the 
sound  of  his  daughters'  pens  as  they  traced  the  paper,  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  he  was  dictating  the 
daily  testament  of  his  genius,  and  depositing  in  a  safe  sanctuary  the  treasure  which  he  had  hitherto 
carried  in  his  imagination.  During  the  remainder  of  the  day,  he  read  Scripture,  poetry,  and  history ; 
or,  conducted  by  one  of  his  daughters,  sauntered  in  the  solitary  fields  of  the  neighbourhood,  to  breathe 
the  pure  air,  or  to  feel,  at  least,  upon  his  eyelids  the  rays  of  that  sun  which  he  no  longer  recognized 
but  through  its  heat."3 

Though  Deborah  was  of  the  tender  age  of  about  eleven,  when  her  Father  began 
to  dictate  for  publication  his  Poem  of  Paradise  Lost,  there  is  no  reason  why  she 
may  not  have  been  employed  in  assisting  in  the  writing  out  of  that  Poem.  She 
may  not  have  been  well  skilled  in  the  use  of  her  pen ;  yet,  for  the  purpose  required, 
her  assistance  may,  with  that  of  others,  have  been  valuable  to  her  father.  Many  of 
the  extracts  in  the  present  work  have  been  copied  out  for  the  printer  by  the  Son  of 
the  Author,  a  boy  just  past  ten  years  of  age,  as  also  by  his  sisters,  a  few  years  older; 
thus  entitling  them,  on  so  slight  a  warranty,  to  be  called  the  Amanuenses  of  their 

1  Memoirs  of  Celebrated  Characters,  by  Alphonse  de  Lamartine.  2  vols.,  1854.  Milton,  vol.  ii. 
p.  16.  2  Ib.,  p.  17. 


182  RAMBLING  S    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


Father.     It  is  not  necessary  that  an  Author  should  be  blind  ere  he  procures  assist- 
ance in  his  labours  by  the  employment  of  an  Amanuensis. 

In  having  entered  into  an  investigation  in  respect  to  the  Daughters  of  Milton 
having  been,  as  so  generally  believed,  of  great  assistance  to  their  Father  when  under 
the  affliction  of  his  blindness,  it  has  been  the  object  of  the  Author  not  to  desire  to 
injure  their  memory  by  depriving  them  of  an  honour  hitherto  accorded  them,  but 
rather  to  place  them  in  the  more  natural  position  which  their  ages  and  talents  entitle 
them  to  hold  as  the  Daughters  of  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  remarkable  men 
this  country  has  produced. 

It  is  a  melancholy  fact,  by  no  means  of  rare  occurrence,  that  the  Widows  and 
Orphans  of  men  distinguished  for  their  popular  talents,  or  eminent  in  literature, 
science,  or  art,  are  often  left  totally  unprovided  for,  their  state  of  wretchedness  and 
destitution  being  aggravated  by  the  cold  indifference  of  their  quondam  friends ;  from 
a  few  of  whom,  however,  possessing  a  little  Christian  feeling,  they  may  obtain  some 
trifling  pecuniary  aid ;  but  from  the  greater  number,  only  inexpensive  pity  and  cold 
neglect !  They  more  frequently  find  out,  when  too  late,  the  heartlessness  and 
selfishness  of  those  who  may  have  been  indebted  to  their  husbands  for  promoting 
their  interests,  and  from  whom  they  were  justified  in  expecting  assistance  and 
respect. 

The  Government  of  England,  at  the  present  period,  most  nobly  does  its  best 
to  succour  the  needy  relatives  of  those  who  have  done  honour  to  their  country. 
Yet  many  are  the  instances  that  are  unhappily  passed  over  through  some  unknown 
cause.  The  list  of  those  whose  Intellectual  Services  have  been  acknowledged 
during  the  last  two  hundred  years,  forms,  we  hope,  as  an  Appendix  to  our  pursuit, 
an  interesting  record,  and  reflects  credit  on  our  National  Character. 

Lamartine,  Poet  as  well  as  Historian,  must  have  been  aroused  by  some  feelings 
of  a  kindred  nature  to  these  here  expressed,  when  he  wrote  so  touching  an  account 
as  the  subjoined,  of  what  befel  the  Widow  and  Daughters  of  that  Man,  by  the 
influence  of  whose  energetic  pen  was  swayed  the  destiny  of  this  country  during  a 
most  momentous  period  of  its  history.  The  career  of  Milton  was  guided  by  the 
hand  of  Providence  for  some  most  special  purpose.  The  Reformation  of  the  Church 
of  England  in  1688,  is  by  many  supposed,  and  not  without  considerable  justice,  to 
have  been  one  of  the  first  beneficial  results  of  the  Religious  and  Political  Views  of 
Milton.  We  are  at  liberty  to  admire  the  character  of  the  Poet  in  the  highest 
degree,  as  regards  the  unflinching  zeal  and  honesty  with  which  he  upheld  his 
position,  without  at  all  adopting  his  extreme  opinions.  We  may,  however,  fairly 
presume  that  the  subjoined  passage,  written  at  a  late  period  of  his  life,  would  not 
have  been  penned,  had  he  not  consciously  felt,  that,  during  some  portion  of  his 
public  career,  he  had  imprudently  overstepped  the  limits  of  his  rightful  demands  in 
the  cause  of  religious  and  political  freedom. 

"That  it  may  be  the  part  of  prudence  to  obey  the  commands  even  of  a  tyrant 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


183 


in  lawful  tilings,  or,  more  properly,  to  comply  with  the  necessity  of  the  times  for 
the  sake  of  public  peace,  as  well  as  of  personal  safety,  I  am  far  from  denying."1 

"Milton's  widow,"  writes  Lamartine,  "languished  in  obscurity  and  poverty,  and  died  neglected 
a  few  years  after  him.  His  daughters  married  poor  artisans  of  the  suburb  in  which  they  had  resided 
with  their  father.  Two  of  these  tradesmen  were  weavers.  The  children  of  the  poet  laboured  at  the 
employment  of  their  husbands.  Thirty  years  after  their  father's  death,  when  Paradise  Lost,  long 
unheard  of,  had  become  famous, — when  Milton's  countrymen,  by  one  of  those  revolutions  in  opinion 
which  exhumes  books  or  men,  had  disinterred  the  poem,  and  crowned  the  author,  like  Inez  of 
Portugal,  after  his  death, — some  few,  from  curiosity,  sought  out  the  descendants  of  one  to  whom  they 
rendered  this  tardy  and  unavailing  compliment.  Deborah,  his  favourite  daughter,  was  still  living,  in 
the  house  of  the  weaver  of  Spitalfields,  who  had  married  her.  The  portrait  of  Milton,  crowned  with 
laurel,  was  presented  to  her :  '  0,  my  father  !  my  beloved  father !'  she  exclaimed,  recognizing  and 
embracing  the  resemblance ;  '  why  can  you  not  issue  from  the  tomb  to  see  your  glory,  so  long 
delayed,  reflected  back  in  the  joyful  countenance  of  your  beloved  child  !'" 


DWAED  AND  JOHN  PHILLIPS,  the  Nephews  of  Milton.  The 
desire  of  educating  the  two  children  of  his  beloved  Sister,  induced 
Milton,  soon  after  his  return  from  the  Continent  in  1639,  to 
relinquish  his  intention  of  entering  into  one  of  the  learned  Pro- 
fessions, for  which  his  talents  preeminently  qualified  him. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  some  of  the  biographers  of  the  Poet 
should  assume  that  he  was  afterwards  assisted  by  the  two  young 
men  to  whose  education  he  had  most  specially  devoted  his  attention.     Such  assist- 
ance, it  might  naturally  have  been  expected,  they  would  have  desired  to  render. 
How  far  they  did  so,  is  a  matter  for  our  present  consideration. 

When  Aubrey,  in  his  Memoranda,  makes  mention  of  the  "  writing  of  Paradise 
Lost,"  he  distinctly  states  that  Edward  Phillips  ivas  then  the  Amanuensis  of  his 
Uncle ;  see  p.  1 72.  The  learned  Mitford,3  when  alluding,  in  his  elegantly  composed 
Life  of  the  Poet,  to  the  approach  of  his  blindness  in  1652,  relates  that  his  Nephew 
Edward  "  was  supposed  to  have  greatly  assisted  him  in  the  affairs  of  Secretary." 

In  the  "  Preliminary  Observations"  to  the  English  Version  of  the  De  Doctrind 
Christiana,  p.  xvii.,  the  Very  Reverend  Translator,  Bishop  Sumner,  states  that  the 
latter  part  of  the  original  Manuscript  of  that  work  was  "  supposed  by  Mr.  Lemon  to 
be  the  handwriting  of  Edivard  Philipps,  the  Nephew  of  Milton." 

If  the  reader  will  refer  to  the  statement  made  by  the  late  Mr.  Lemon,  as  printed 
p.  156,  it  will  there  be  seen  that  Mr.  Lemon,  in  alluding  to  that  portion  of  the 
Manuscript,  says  that  it  is  in  "a  small  strong  character,  much  resembling  the 


1  A  Treatise  on  Christian  Doctrine,  by  John 
Milton.     Translated  by  Charles  R.  Sumner,  etc. 


1825.     4to.,  p.  704 


3  Memoirs  of  Celebrated  Characters,  vol.  ii., 
pp.  29-30.  „__ 

3  Life  of  Milton,  by  the  Rev.  John  Mitford. 
Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  1851,  vol.  i.,  pp.xciv-v. 


184  KAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


u-riling  of  E.  Phillips."  Consequently,  it  may  be  assumed  that  Mr.  Lemon  had 
obtained  some  knowledge  of  the  autograph  of  E.  Phillips,  otherwise  he  would 
scarcely  have  ventured  such  an  opinion.  It  is,  therefore,  to  be  regretted  that 
Mr.  Lemon  did  not  record  the  authority  upon  which  such  opinion  was  founded. 

Without  searching  farther  into  the  almost  innumerable  biographies  of  the  Poet, 
in  order  to  shew  that  such  an  opinion  has  been  generally  entertained,  we  proceed  to 
a  brief  investigation  as  to  the  probability  of  Edward  Phillips  having  so  assisted  his 
Uncle  in  any  other  way  than  as  many  of  his  occasional  visitors  and  friends  may 
have  done. 


JDWARD  PHILLIPS  left  his  Uncle  in  1646.  He  was  then  quite  a 
young  man.  There  is  no  record  of  his  avocations  from  that  time  until 
March  1648,  when  he  entered  Magdalen  Hall,  Oxford,  where  he 
remained  until  1651. 

Brought  up  under  the  careful  superintendence  of  Milton,  he 
appears  intuitively  to  have  imbibed  his  "  love  of  learning,"  becoming  also,  like  his 
Uncle,  a  poet  at  an  early  period  of  his  life.  History,  however,  was  the  chief  attrac- 
tion of  his  literary  pursuits.  He  was  too  young,  when  under  tuition,  to  have 
entered  into  the  merits  of  the  polemical  and  political  controversies  in  which  his 
Uncle  was  engaged.  He  had  proceeded  to  Oxford,  the  then  most  loyal  of  all  cities 
in  England,  at  the  very  moment  when  the  pen  of  the  Poet  had  assisted  Cromwell 
in  the  consummation  of  an  Act,- the  Death  of  his  lawful  but  ill-guided  King,- an  act 
to  be  adjudged  only  by  the  Disposer  of  All. 

Edward  Phillips  became  a  Royalist;  consequently,  it  can  hardly  be  supposed 
that  he  aided  his  Uncle  in  his  duties  as  Latin  Secretary.  He  retired  from  Oxford 
in  1653;  and  in  that  year  he  made  his  deb&t  as  a  Poet  in  a  copy  of  complimentary 
verses  affixed  to  the  "First  Book  of  Ayres  and  Dialogues"  by  Henry  Lawes,  pub- 
lished in  the  same  year.  It  must  be  remembered,  that,  though  the  beloved  friend  of 
Milton,  Henry  Lawes  was  a  Royalist.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  a  matter  of  surprise 
that  kindred  feelings  should  have  arisen  between  the  old  and  the  young  Royalist. 

In  1656,  Edward  Phillips  edited  the  Poetical  Works  of  William  Drummond  of 
Hawthornden,  having  then  embraced  literature  as  a  profession,  and  editing  several 
other  works;  but  it  was  not  until  1660  that  his  much-loved  labours  in  History 
appeared  in  an  enlarged  edition  of  Sir  Richard  Baker's  "Chronicle  of  England." 

William  Godwin,  the  biographer  of  the  two  Nephews  of  Milton,  has  so  carefully 
compiled  an  account1  of  the  editorial  labours  of  Edward  Phillips  on  the  several 
editions  of  the  "  Chronicle,"  that,  in  lieu  of  condensing  his  information,  we  think  it 
of  sufficient  interest,  and  but  justice,  to  give  it  entire  : 

1  Lives  of  Edward  and  John  Phillips,  Nephews  and  Pupils  of  Milton.     1815.     4to.,  pp.  114-121. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


185 


jjDWARD  PHILIPS  had  been  employed  as  the  editor  of  Baker,  previously  to  the 
Restoration  of  Charles  the  Second.  This  book,  so  continually  referred  to  by  our 
ancestors  for  more  than  seventy  years,  was  carried  down  by  its  original  author  no 
lower  than  to  the  death  of  James  the  First.  It  was  first  printed  in  1641 ;  the  writer 
in  his  peroration  professing  an  expectation  '  to  resume  his  style,  when  the  storm,  which 
he  saw  overcast  the  days  of  the  successor,  and  which  he  hoped  would  be  but  a  short 
fit,  was  past,  and  fair  weather  returned;'  but  he  died  in  1645  ;  and  the  second  edition,  published  in 
1653,  is  merely  a  reprint  of  the  first.  In  the  course  of  the  next  five  or  six  years  a  third  edition  was 
called  for ;  and  Edward  Philips  was  now  engaged  by  the  booksellers  to  carry  on  the  work,  from  the 
period  at  which  Sir  Richard  Baker  had  quitted  it. 

"  The  third  edition,  the  first  in  which  Edward  Philips  was  concerned,  was  printed  in  a  very 
critical  period,  bearing  the  date  of  1660,  and  having  for  the  most  part  probably  passed  the  press 
before  the  commencement  of  that  year.  It  was  therefore  impossible  that  the  continuator  should 
unreservedly  take  part  with  the  exiled  family.  This,  if  it  would  have  been  safe  for  the  writer,  would 
at  least  not  have  answered  the  purpose  of  the  bookseller,  who  we  may  be  sure  would  not  have  been 
content  to  reduce  so  valuable  a  property  as  Baker's  Chronicle  then  was,  into  a  book  that  was  to  be 
under  proscription  with  all  but  a  few  mutinous  and  malcontent  royalists.  People  were  very  far  from 
anticipating,  at  the  time  the  book  was  put  to  the  press,  or  even  at  the  period  of  its  publication,  that 
the  Restoration  of  the  Stuart  family  was  so  near  at  hand.  This  is  sufficiently  evident  from  Edward 
Philips's  Preface  to  his  Continuation,  when  he  speaks  of  Charles  the  Second  in  the  highest  terms, 
calling  him  '  a  great  and  illustrious  prince,'  and  ascribing  to  him  '  native  generosity  of  soul,  valour 
and  prudence  in  scenes  of  personal  action,  and  that  fortitude  in  suffering  with  constant  equanimity, 
which  no  lesse  beseems  an  heroic  spirit  than  that  of  doing  bravely,' — yet  adds,  '  Of  the  misfortunes 
that  attend  this  prince,  I  am  easily  induc'd  to  think  he  undergoes  not  any  greater  then  this,  That  he 
is  chiefly  accompanied,  and  for  the  most  part  abetted  by  a  generation  of  men,  who  suffer  themselves 
to  be  carried,  upon  every  little  gust  of  hope,  unto  such  a  heighth  of  empty  confidence,  as  leads  them 
inevitably  to  their  own  confusion.' 

"  The  love  indeed  of  the  author  to  the  family  of  Stuart  is  eminently  shown,  upon  every  occasion 
where  it  could  gracefully  be  introduced.  His  account  of  the  trial  and  death  of  Charles  the  First  is 
animated  and  pathetic  ;  and  when  he  introduces  his  hero  upon  the  scaffold,  he  observes,  '  The  king 
was  nothing  daunted  at  the  sight  of  the  block  or  the  axe,  nor  to  behold  his  executioner,  who  was 
more  possessed  with  fear  than  he,  and  therefore  disguized  with  a  vizard.' 

"  The  character  with  which  Edward  Philips  dismisses  the  royal  sufferer,  is  still  more  evidently 
stamped  with  a  spirit  of  kindness.  '  And  thus  you  have  exactly,  though  in  brief,  described  the  life, 
the  for  the  most  part  troublesome  reign,  and  the  untimely  and  deplorable  death,  of  this  once  great 
and  powerful  monarch.  A  prince  he  was,  not  ill  beloved  of  his  subjects  whilst  alive  ;  and  although 
by  some  his  memory  is  branded  with  the  name  of  Tyrant,  yet  by  others  it  receives  the  style  of  Saint 
and  Martyr :  nor  could  I  ever  perceive  by  the  general  suffrage  of  people,  but  that  he  is  accounted  to 
have  been  a  pious  man,  and  good  king,  though  some  miscarriages  might  happen  in  his  reign,  through 
his  overmuch  lenity,  and  trusting  too  much  to  some  about  him,  who  sought  their  own  interests  more 
than  the  public  good. 

"  It  was  natural,  however,  writing  under  a  government  that  seemed  to  be  sufficiently  established 
and  firm,  and  just  after  the  close  of  the  prosperous  and  splendid  administration  of  Cromwel,  that  the 
continuator  of  Baker  should  not  perpetually  show  a  bias  to  one  party,  but  should  hold  a  sort  of  even 
march  between  the  royalists  and  their  adversaries;  and  this  proceeding  seems  to  have  been 
sufficiently  in  accord  with  the  candid  and  equable  temper  of  Edward  Philips.  Accordingly,  in 
summing  up  the  character  of  the  memorable  Protector,  the  author  seems  sufficiently  disposed  to  look 
on  the  favourable  side. 

"  '  His  character,'  says  Edward  Philips,  '  hath  been  at  large  delivered  by  others,  and  truly  by 
some  not  altogether  without  flattery,  though  much  might  be  sayd  in  his  praise  :  but  to  comprehend 


24 


186  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


him  in  short,  it  is  sufficiently  known  to  the  world,  that  he  was  a  man  of  singular  courage  and 
undaunted  resolution,  and  that  attended  with  a  most  prosperous  stream  of  fortune.  Nor  can  it 
be  denied  that  he  had  much  of  generosity,  and  many  noble  things  in  his  nature.  As  for  his  policy 
and  sagacity  of  parts,  what  better  instance  then  his  life,  so  recent  in  memory  ?  How  did  he  raise 
himself  by  a  gradual  progress  to  the  highest  pitch  of  honour,  and  had  doubtless  obtain'd  the  supreme 
title,  had  he  remain'd  among  the  living  never  so  little  longer  ?  How  did  he  fit  himself  with  the 
choicest  instruments,  and  the  ablest  ministers  of  state,  and  often  times  mould  and  form  men  to  his 
own  purpose  ?  How  did  he  make  use  of  all  parties  and  interests,  carrying  on  his  own  affairs  by 
them  ?  What  powerful  influence  had  he  upon  the  forein  states  and  kingdoms,  so  interweaving  his 
own  interests  among  them,  that  he  was  ever  on  the  most  successful  side,  or  at  least  made  that  side 
the  most  prosperous  which  he  adhered  unto.' 

"  From  somewhat  of  the  same  cause  which  rendered  Edward  Philips  thus  liberal  in  his  estimate 
of  Cromwel,  he  was  also  led  occasionally  to  insert  trifling  circumstances  and  tales  unfavourable  to  the 
royal  party,  which  in  the  editions  printed  subsequently  to  the  Restoration  were  carefully  suppressed. 

"  In  the  mean  time  he  proves  his  predilection  for  the  royal  party  by  the  very  title  he  lias  given 
to  his  continuation,  which  he  calls  '  A  Continuation  of  the  Chronicle  of  England,  to  the  End  of  the 
Year  1658  :  Being  a  Full  Narrative  of  the  Affairs  of  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland ;  more  especially 
relating  unto  the  Transactions  of  Charles,  Crowned  King  of  the  Scots  at  Scone,  on  the  First  Day  of 
January  1650  [1651].'  Nor  is  it  quite  insignificant  to  observe,  that  the  title  is  further  ornamented 
with  a  vignette  of  a  regal  coronet,  and  the  initials,  C.  B.,  on  each  side  of  this  coronet.  For  the  style 
here  adopted,  the  writer  apologises  somewhat  lamely  in  the  last  sentence  of  the  book.  '  Moreover, 
since  this  volume  is  that  which  contains  the  lives  of  the  Kings  of  England,  I  knew  not  better  how 
with  decorum  to  continue  it,  then  by  couching  the  transactions  of  the  latest  fore-going  years  under 
the  name  of  a  person,  if  not  a  king,  yet  at  least  lineally  descended  of  the  race  of  English  kings,  as 
being  eldest  son  of  the  last  King  of  Great  Britain  ;  himself  also  having  been  crowned  by  the  estates 
of  Scotland.' 

"  From  a  further  anxiety  to  leave  on  the  minds  of  his  readers  a  favourable  impression  respecting 
'  this  Illustrious  Unfortunate,'  as  he  calls  him,  Edward  Philips  winds  up  his  story  with  a  '  character, 
once  delivered  of  him  (a  more  proper  then  which  there  could  not  have  been  given  any,  as  proceediiit,' 
from  him  who  profest  to  have  known  him  from  his  tender  years)  by  an  honourable  person  at  his 
death :  Certainly,  sayd  this  lord,  I  that  have  been  a  counsellour  to  him,  and  have  lived  long  with 
him,  and  in  a  time  when  discovery  is  easily  enough  made,  for  he  was  young  (he  was  about  fifteen  or 
sixteen  years  of  age)  those  years  I  was  with  him  [ought  to  be  considered  a  credible  evidence  of  his 
dispositions]  ;  and  truly  I  never  saw  greater  hopes  of  vertue  in  any  young  person,  then  in  liim ;  great 
judgment,  great  understanding,  strong  apprehension,  much  honour  in  his  nature,  and  truly  a  very 
perfect  Englishman  in  his  inclinations.  Nor  have  there  been  wanting,'  adds  the  Continuator, 
'  several  others,  who  upon  their  own  knowledge,  have  been  high  in  commendation  both  of  him,  and 
his  brother,  the  duke  of  York.' 

"  The  account  given  in  this  continuation,  of  the  imprisonment  and  death  of  the  Marquis  of 
Montrose,  particularly  deserves  to  be  referred  to.  This  pathetic  tale  is  by  no  historian  more  skil- 
fully and  impressively  told,  than  by  Edward  Philips.  Indeed,  the  general  character  of  his  compo- 
sition in  this  work,  is  the  most  censurable  carelessness  and  slovenliness  ;  and  the  printing  is  not  less 
shamefully  defective,  than  a  great  part  of  the  writing  ;  but,  where  the  author  feels  himself  animated 
by  a  particular  interest  in  the  subject,  his  narrative  there  has  every  grace,  that  a  just  understanding, 
susceptible  feelings,  an  amiable  temper,  and  an  unaffected  mode  of  expression  can  bestow  upon  it. 

"  Such  was  the  Continuation  of  Sir  Bichard  Baker's  Chronicle,  as  published  by  Edward  Philips 
during  the  reign  of  the  Commonwealth.  The  last  incidents  mentioned  in  this  narrative  are  the 
captivity  of  Sir  George  Booth,  and  the  conferences  of  Cardinal  Mazarine  and  Don  Lewis  de  Haro  in 
the  Island  of  Pheasants,  both  occurring  in  the  month  of  August  1659 ;  and  little  did  the  writer 
suspect,  that,  in  so  very  short  a  time  from  his  closing  his  work,  the  personage  whom  he  so  modestly, 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


187 


yet  forwardly  praises,  would  be  placed  on  the  throne  of  England,  with  no  other  restrictions  than  his 
own  frail  promises  and  declarations. 

"  Another  edition  of  Baker  was  called  for  in  1664 ;  and  Edward  Philips  was  again  employed  in 
preparing  it  for  the  press.  '  The  secrecy  of  love,'  as  Dr.  Johnson  might  with  more  propriety  have 
said  on  this  occasion,  'was  put  an  end  to  by  this  revolution ;'  and  it  is  in  a  very  different  style  that 
the  continuator  now  treats  of  the  glories  of  King  Charles  the  Second. 

"  The  edition  carries  in  the  title-page  the  year  1665,  and  it  appears  to  have  been  licensed  for  the 
press  on  the  sixteenth  of  December,  1664.  The  author  professes  to  have  included  in  it,  'many 
material  affairs  of  state,  never  before  published ;  and  likewise  the  most  remarkable  occurrences 
relating  to  King  Charles  the  Second's  most  wonderful  Bestauration,  by  the  prudent  conduct  of 
George  duke  of  Albemarle,  captain  general  of  all  his  majesties  armies  ;  as  they  were  extracted  out 
of  his  excellencies  own  papers,  and  the  journals  and  memorials  of  those  imployed  in  the  most 
important  and  secret  transactions  of  that  time. 

"  This  edition  first  bears  the  name  of  Edward  Philips,  signed  to  the  epistle  to  the  reader.  The 
former  continuation  is  imputed  to  him  on  the  authority  of  Wood :  nor  would  it  be  difficult,  from  the 
manner  of  thinking  and  the  language,  to  prove  that  he  was  the  true  author. 

"  In  the  book,  as  published  in  1665,  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First  is  entirely  rewritten.  The 
former  copy  was  by  no  means  without  a  sufficient  leaning  toward  the  royal  cause  ;  and  the  present 
copy  is  far  from  exhibiting  the  intemperate  sallies  of  a  furious  partisan ;  but  many  remarks  are 
occasionally  interspersed,  calculated  to  gratify  the  favourers  of  the  Stuarts  ;  while  some  parts  of  the 
story  are  compressed,  and  others  dilated,  accordingly  as  they  might  be  thought  to  reflect  honour  on 
the  king  and  his  friends,  or  deemed  to  be  less  or  more  interesting  now,  than  they  were  to  the  readers 
of  our  Chronicles  under  the  ascendancy  of  the  republic.  The  trial  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford  has 
occupied  a  very  particular  portion  of  our  author's  care. 

"  But  however  temperate  Edward  Philips  may  be  in  the  general  strain  even  of  his  improved 
narrative,  he  now  and  then  breaks  out  into  a  tenour  of  writing  that  might  not  be  unworthy  of  the 
most  furious  zealot.  ........ 

"  Of  the  Restoration,  Philips  speaks  in  his  Preface  in  the  following  terms,  borrowed  from  the 
Coronation  Sermon  of  Morley,  bishop  of  Worcester :  '  It  was  a  generous,  glorious,  and  heroical 
design,  whereby  its  author  at  once  redeemed  his  country  both  from  slavery  and  oppression,  by 
restoring  the  King  to  his  People  and  the  People  to  their  King.'  " 


HERE  is  no  period  in  English  History  of  more  general  interest 
than  that  from  the  commencement  of  the  Reign  of  Charles  I.  to 
the  Restoration;    and  yet  forsooth,  it  has   never  met,  at   the 
hands  of  any  Historian,  not  even  excepting  those  of  Edward 
Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  that  due  attention  it  merits.     The 
Histories  of  Hume,  Goldsmith,  and   others,  are   mere  abridg- 
ments, written,  for  the  most  part,  to  express  their  own  political 
views.     So  likewise  are  the  marvellously  digested  labours  of  the  great  Historians, 
Alison  and  Macaulay. 

To  those  who  desire  to  be  correctly  informed  of  the  minute  particulars  con- 
nected with  any  of  the  more  important  Events  during  the  unhappy  period  of  the 
Rebellion,  or  of  the  persons  who  took  a  prominent  part  in  those  transactions, 
Macaulay,  with  his  charming  and  beautiful  language,  or  any  of  the  English  Historians 


24  : 


188 


RAMBLIXGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OP 


of  the  eighteenth  or  nineteenth  centuries,  will  afford  no  light.  They  will  find  the 
Characters  of  Charles  I.,  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  the  chiefs  on  either  side  depicted 
in  such  fascinating  language  as  almost  to  dissipate  the  previously  conceived  opinions 
of  their  readers.  This  may  be  of  no  importance  to  the  generality  of  the  public, 
who  in  many  cases  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  historical  opinions  of 
such  elegant  writers,  more  as  a  matter  of  fashion  than  of  real  interest  or  study.  Not 
to  have  read  Macaulay,  would,  in  the  eyes  of  the  fashionable  world,  be  a  perfect 
dereliction  of  duty ! 

Let  any  inquiring  reader  have  occasion  to  search  out  the  exact  period  of  an 
event  during  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,-  the  names  of  all  the  parties  who  took  part  in 
that  event,- he  will  find  to  his  vexation,  that  the  works  we  have  mentioned  will  not 
give  him  the  information  he  desires.  He  must  fall  back  on  one  of  the  few  existing 
histories  published  at  the  Time,  and  to  such  minute  particulars  as  are  chronologically 
arranged  in  Baker's  "Chronicle"  edited  and  enlarged  from  the  Death  of  Charles  I. 
to  the  Restoration,  by  Edward  Phillips,  the  Nephew  of  Milton,  one  who  lived  and 
wrote  at  the  period. 

In  these  times  it  would  appear  as  if  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  blend  fiction 
with  history,  and  to  form  them  into  a  Novel  with  some  highly-coloured  and  exciting 
love-story,  in  order  to  obtain  for  them  even  a  reading.  Accordingly,  the  Fashionable 
Libraries  have  been  favoured  lately  with  an  Historical  Novel  under  the  title  of  "  The 
Ironsides;  a  Tale  of  the  English  Commonwealth."  However  much  we  may  delight 
in  the  perusal  of  the  Historical  Novels  from  the  pen  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  we  must 
confess,  that,  unless  the  youthful  reader  is  well  versed  in  English  History,  he  will 
have  his  mind  so  impressed  with  interesting  and  highly  wrought  narratives,  that, 
when  at  a  later  period  he  has  occasion  to  study  the  history  of  his  country,  he  can 
with  difficulty  remove  the  feelings  those  fictions  have  created. 

The  "Literary  Gazette"  for  June  30  of  this  year,  closes  its  Review  of  "  The 
Ironsides"  by  observing  :  "  We  had  marked  some  passages  for  quotation,  but  shall 
give  only  one  specimen  of  a  speech  of  Cromwell's,  which  reads  as  if  it  had  been 
made  after  a  dinner  in  the  London  Tavern,  with  the  reporter  of  '  The  Times'  in  the 
gallery."  The  Author,  presuming  on  his  knowledge  of  the  heart  of  the  Protector, 
amusingly  records,  as  part  of  the  Usurper's  post  prandium  Oration,- 

" '  I  am  not  ashamed  to  acknoivledge  the  fact,  that  my  feelings  towards  the 
King  underwent  considerable  modification  when  I  became  personally  acquainted 
with  him,  after  the  war  had  been  brought  to  an  honourable  conclusion.  He 
appeared  to  me  to  be  a  man  of  great  parts,  understanding,  and  earnest  convictions, 
who  had  been  misled  by  false  friends  rather  than  instigated  by  any  innate  perver- 
sity of  disposition;  and  of  the  kindness  of  his  heart  I  had  soon  personal  and 
irresistible  evidence,  and  so  I  began  to  consider  whether,  under  all  the  circumstances 
of  the  case,  it  would  not  be  best  to  retain  him  in  the  kingly  office,  under  safe 
guarantees,  rather  than  risk  the  advantages  we  have  already  gained  by  aiming  at  a 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


189 


more  thorough  change  in  our  political  constitution.  Such,  gentlemen,  were  the  changes 
in  my  own  feelings,  and  in  those  of  many  present,  and  I  believe  I  may  add,  of  the 
great  majority  of  the  army.'" — Vol.  ii.,  pp.  30-31. 

In  the  "  Continuation"  of  the  "  Chronicle"  by  Phillips,  there  is  an  occasional 
display  of  very  strong  political  feeling;  though  at  the  same  time  he  sometimes 
endeavours  to  exculpate  the  actors  in  many  of  the  sad  events  of  the  period  of  the 
Eebellion.  It  is  very  remarkable  that  Phillips  has  most  studiously  avoided  mention 
even  of  the  name  of  Milton,  or  any  allusion  to  those  political  and  polemical  writings 
which  emanated  from  the  pen  of  his  Uncle,- works  that  had  so  powerful  an  influ- 
ence upon  many  of  the  important  events  of  the  period. 

Godwin,  whose  political  views  are  well  known  to  have  been  strongly  republican, 
while  deprecating  the  occasional  fulsome  eulogistic  language  used  by  the  youthful 
royalist  historian,  has  given  him  great  credit  for  the  delicacy  of  feeling  with  which 
he  has  recorded  acts  which  had  been  defended  and  upheld  by  Milton. 


PRESENTATION  Copy  of  the  last  edition,  bearing  date  1665,  has 
lately  come  most  opportunely  into  the  possession  of  the  Author.  It  is 
one  of  peculiar  interest  as  having  on  the  fly-leaf  an  inscription  in 
the  AUTOGRAPH  of  Edward  Phillips,  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  to 
whom  the  volume,  richly  bound  in  old  red  morocco,  was  sent. 
The  reader  is  referred  to  the  fac-simile  of  that  inscription,  plate  XXIV.,  No.  1 ; 
as  also  to  the  fac-simile  given  in  the  same  plate,  No.  2,  taken  from  a  few  pages  of 
the  Autograph  of  Edward  Phillips  in  the  Ashmolean  Museum  at  Oxford.  Beneath 
these  are  fac-similes  of  what  are  believed  to  be  the  autograph  signatures1  of  his 
brother,  John  Phillips. 


ilOHN  PHILLIPS,  the  younger  Nephew,  also  intuitively  a  poet  and 
author,  was,  however,  of  a  totally  different  character  from  his  brother. 
Godwin,  who  appears  to  have  searched  everywhere  for  information, 
states,2 

"  We  know  little  of  the  situation  John  Philips  occupied  in  early  life,  or  whether 
he  applied  himself  to  any  particular  profession.     In  Milton's  office  of  Latin  Secretary,  it  is  probable 


1  The  one  is  taken  from  the  upper  part  of  the 
title-page  of  a  copy,  in  our  possession,  of  "  A 
Discourse  of  Sacriledge,  wherein  is  briefly 
shewn,  1,  The  Just  Collation;  2,  the  Unjust 
Ablation  of  the  Riches  and  Honours  of  the 
Clergie.  1641 ;  4to.'  The  other  is  from  the 
original,  occurring  at  the  foot  of  the  dedication 
of  a  copy  of  Gainsford's  "  Glory  of  England." 


1618 ;  4to.  The  date  is  evidently  1660.  For 
this  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  T.  Palmer,  Book- 
seller, of  Paternoster-row.  They  are  the  only 
specimens  of  the  autograph  of  John  Phillips  that 
we  have  met  with. 

8  Lives  of  Edward   and  John   Phillips,  by 
William  Godwin.     1815,  4to.,  p.  19. 


190 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


that  he  would  stand  in  need  of  clerks  to  assist  him,  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  at  least  the  younger 
of  his  nephews  served  at  that  time  in  such  a  capacity. 

"  Edward  Philips  relates  of  his  brother's  performance,  that '  the  task  of  answering  the  anony- 
mous Apology  was  committed  to  him  by  Milton,  but  with  such  exact  emendations  before  it  went  to 
the  press,  that  it  might  very  well  have  passed  for  his  uncle's  work,  but  that  he  was  willing  the 
person  that  took  the  pains  to  prepare  it  for  his  examination  and  polishment,  should  have  the 
name  and  credit  of  being  the  author.'  " 

The  Apology1  mentioned  appeared  in  1652.  The  deputed  author,  John  Phillips, 
is  stated  to  have,  at  that  period,  wholly  sided  with  the  opinions  of  his  Uncle ;  and 
therefore  it  may  be  fairly  presumed  that  he  had  previously  aided  him  in  other  of 
his  political  controversies.  John  Phillips,  however,  turned  Royalist  about  1658, 
and  then  abused  the  conduct  of  his  Uncle  as  violently  as  he  had  previously 
supported  it,  calling  " Iconoclastcs,"  Milton's  answer  to  the  "Eikon  Basilikc,"  "  an 
impudent  and  blasphemous  libel."2 

It  is,  therefore,  only  in  reference  to  the  probability  of  the  younger  Nephew  of 
Milton  having,  in  common  with  others,  aided  his  Uncle  in  the  capacity  of  an  occa- 
sional Amanuensis,  that  his  name  is  here  mentioned.  No  specimen  of  his  autograph 
has  as  yet  been  found,  which  might  hereafter  be  useful  in  the  elucidation  of  any 
manuscript  of  a  work  of  Milton's  in  an  unknown  autograph.  That  the  younger 
Nephew  had  rendered  no  aid  to  his  Uncle  in  writing  out  any  of  his  Paradise  Lost, 
or  Regained,  is  most  certain,  as  before  those  periods  he  had  become  a  Eenegade. 
He  was  a  man  of  bad  moral  character.  He  forsook  his  wife  and  children;  yet 
withal  "  he  was  an  extraordinary  man."3 


UNDREW  MARVELL  was  one  of  the  most  intimate  and  most  faithful 
friends  of  Milton  from  an  early  period.  In  1657  he  was  appointed  as 
Assistant  Secretary  to  Milton.  He  also  may  have  occasionally  aided 
the  Poet  with  the  use  of  his  pen,  when  his  professional  Amanuensis 
was  away.  It  is  with  the  view  of  future  reference  that  his  known 
autograph  appears  in  the  present  work.  The  specimen  in  plate  XXIV.,  No.  V.,  is 
taken  from  an  original  letter  in  a  collection  of  Autograph  Letters  preserved  in  the 
Library  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London,- a  collection  most  erro- 
neously called  "  The  MiUon  State  Papers." 


1  Responsio  ad  Apologiam  pro  Rege  et  Po- 
pulo  Anglicano.     Lond.,  1652,  12mo. 

1  Lives  of  Edward  and  John  Phillips,  by  God- 
win.   1815,  4to.,  p.  174. 

8  In  the  biography  of  E.  and  J.  Phillips,  by 


Godwin,  the  reader  will  find  full  particulars  of 
the  Literary  and  Political  pursuits  of  the 
younger  Nephew.  He  was  a  prolific  writer. 
His  first  poetical  composition  appeared,  with 
that  of  his  brother's,  among  the  commendatory 
verses  to  "  The  First  Book  of  Ayres  and  Dia- 
logues" by  Lawes,  in  1G53. 


II 


ff/  £&'*(.   fntt    ftt-rt 
?vtrt  w. 


XXIV 


Ill 


&£t&fonCje-.  f 


lit  3  .WaHmjiltoB  .^      .  „ 


1860 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON.  191 


|HOMAS  ELLWOOD,  the  QUAKER,  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
men  of  his  day.  Equally  remarkable  is  his  Autobiography.1  Ellwood 
has  been  usually  termed  the  "friend  of  Milton."  He  was  born  in 
1639.  He  was  twenty  years  of  age  when  he  became  acquainted  with 
the  Poet;  which  occurred  in  1662,  when  the  latter  was  residing  in 
Je win-street.  The  style  in  which  Ellwood  is  characterized  by  the  majority  of  the 
biographers  of  Milton,  clearly  shews  that  few  of  the  learned  compilers  had  ever 
read  his  "  Autobiography."  It  is  now  before  us,  as  also  the  more  detailed  Life  of 
Milton  by  Dr.  Symmons,  Avhose  narration  of  the  intercourse  between  the  young 
Quaker  and  the  Poet  is  admirably  depicted. 

Though  Ellwood  is  not  stated  to  have  been,  even  for  a  short  time,  the  Amanu- 
ensis of  Milton,  yet  it  naturally  suggests  itself  to  the  mind,  that,  during  the  short 
period  of  his  daily  intercourse  with  the  Poet,  he  may  have  occasionally  assisted  in 
that  capacity.  Accordingly,  Ave  think  it  will  be  interesting  to  quote  all  the  infor- 
mation recorded  in  the  Autobiography,  of  his  connexion  with  the  Poet.  At  pp.  130- 
136,  Ellwood,  who  had  been  suffering  by  confinement  consequent  on  severe  illness, 
relieved  only  by  his  study  of  the  contents  of  his  father's  library,  states  : 

|FTER  I  was  well  enough  to  go  abroad,  with  respect  to  my  own  Health,  and  the 
Safety  of  others,  I  went  up  (in  the  beginning  of  the  Twelfth  Month,  1661,)  to  my 
Friend  Isaac  Penington's  at  Ghalfont,  and  abode  there  some  time :  for  the  Airing 
my  self  more  fully :  that  I  might  be  more  fit  for  Conversation. 

"  I  mentioned  before,  that  when  I  was  a  Boy,  I  had  made  some  good  Progress 
in  Learning ;  and  lost  it  all  again  before  I  came  to  be  a  Man :  Nor  was  I  rightly 
sensible  of  my  Loss  therein,  until  I  came  amongst  the  Quakers.  But  then  I  both  saw  my  Loss,  and 
lamented  it ;  and  applyed  my  self  with  utmost  Diligence,  at  all  leasure  Times  to  recover  it :  so  false 
I  found  that  Charge  to  be,  which  in  those  Times  was  cast,  as  a  Reproach  upon  the  Quakers,  That 
they  despised  and  decried  all  Humane  Learning ;  because  they  deemed  it  to  be  essentially  necessary 
to  a  Gospel-Ministry,  which  was  one  of  the  Controversies  of  those  Times. 

"But  though  I  toiled  hard,  and  spared  no  Pains,  to  regain  what  once  I  had  been  Master  of; 
yet  I  found  it  a  matter  of  so  great  Difficulty,  that  I  was  ready  to  say  as  the  Noble  Eunuch  to  Philip 
in  another  Case  :  'How  can  I,  unless  I  had  some  Man  to  guide  me  ? ' 

"  This  I  had  formerly  complained  of  to  my  especial  Friend  Isaac  Pennington ;  but  now  more 
earnestly :  which  put  him  upon  considering,  and  contriving  a  Means  for  my  Assistance. 

"  He  had  an  intimate  Acquaintance  with  Dr.  Paget,  a  Physician  of  Note  in  London ;  and  he  with 
John  Milton,  a  Gentleman  of  Great  Note  for  Learning,  throughout  the  Learned  World,  for  the 
accurate  Pieces  he  had  Written,  on  various  Subjects  and  Occasions. 

"  This  Person,  having  filled  a  Publick  Station,  in  the  former  Times  ;  lived  now  a  private  and 


1  "  The  History  of  the  Life  of  Thomas  Ellwood, 
eta.  Written  by  his  own  Hand,"  etc.  8vo.,  1714. 
We  have  not  been  successful  in  obtaining  any 
other  specimen  of  his  autograph  than  the  sub- 
joined signature  taken  from  "Armistead's  Mis- 


cellanies."    1851. 


192 


RAMBLIXGS    IN   THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


retired  Life  in  London  :  and  having  wholly  lost  his  Sight,  kept  always  a  Man  to  read  to  him ;  which 
usually  was  the  Son  of  some  Gentleman  of  his  Acquaintance,  whom,  in  kindness,  he  took  to  Improve 
in  his  Learning. 

"  Thus,  by  the  Mediation  of  my  Friend  Isaac  Penington  with  Dr.  Paget,  and  of  Dr.  Paget  with 
John  Milton,  was  I  admitted  to  come  to  him  ;  not  as  a  Servant  to  him  (which  at  that  time  he  needed 
not)  nor  to  be  in  the  House  with  him  :  but  only  to  have  the  Liberty  of  Coming  to  his  House,  at 
certain  Hours,  when  I  would,  and  to  read  to  him  what  BOOKS  he  should  appoint  me ;  which  was  all 
the  Favour  I  desired. 

"  But  this  being  a  Matter,  which  would  require  some  time  to  bring  it  about :  I,  in  the  mean 
while  returned  to  my  Father's  House  in  Oxfordshire. 

"  I  had  before  received  Direction,  by  Letters  from  my  Eldest  Sister  (written  by  my  Father's 
Command)  to  put  off  what  Cattle  he  had  left  about  his  House,  and  to  Discharge  his  Servants  ;  which 
I  had  done  at  the  time  called  Michaelmas  before.  So  that  all  that  "Winter,  when  I  was  at  Home,  I 
lived  like  an  Hermit  all  alone ;  having  a  pretty  large  House,  and  no  body  in  it  but  my  self,  a  Nights 
especially :  But  an  elderly  Woman  (whose  Father  had  been  an  old  Servant  to  the  Family)  came 
every  Morning,  and  made  my  Bed ;  and  did  what  else  I  had  occasion  for  her  to  do ;  till  I  fell  111  of 
the  Small  Pox,  and  then  I  had  her  with  me,  and  the  Nurse.  But  now,  understanding  by  Letter 
from  my  Sister,  that  my  Father  did  not  intend  to  return  to  settle  there ;  I  made  off  those  Provi- 
sions which  were  in  the  House  (that  they  might  not  be  spoiled  when  I  was  gone :)  and  because 
they  were  what  I  should  have  spent,  if  I  had  tarried  there,  I  took  the  Money  made  of  them  to  my 
self,  for  my  support  at  London,  if  the  Project  succeeded  for  my  Going  thither. 

"  This  done,  I  committed  the  Care  of  the  House  to  a  Tenant  of  my  Father's,  who  lived  in  the 
Town  ;  and  taking  my  leave  of  Crowell,  went  up  to  my  sure  Friend  Isaac  Penington  again.  Where 
understanding  that  the  Mediation  used  for  my  Admittance  to  John  Milton,  had  succeeded  so  well, 
that  I  might  come  when  I  would ;  I  hastened  to  London :  and  in  the  first  place  went  to  wait  upon  him. 

"  He  received  me  courteously ;  as  well  for  the  sake  of  Dr.  Paget,  who  introduced  me  :  as  of 
Isaac  Penington,  who  recommeiided  me  ;  to  both  whom  he  bore  a  good  Respect.  And  having 
inquired  divers  things  of  me,  with  respect  to  my  former  Progression  in  Learning ;  he  dismist  me,  to 
provide  my  self  of  such  Accommodations,  as  might  be  most  suitable  to  my  future  studies. 

"  I  went  therefore  and  took  my  self  a  Lodging  as  near  to  his  House  (which  was  then  in  Jewen- 
street)  as  conveniently  as  I  could :  and  from  thenceforward  went  every  Day  in  the  Afternoon  (except 
on  the  First  Days  of  the  Week)  and  sitting  by  him  in  his  Dining- Room,  read  to  him  in  such  Books 
in  the  Latin  Tongue,  as  he  pleased  to  hear  me  read. 

"  At  my  first  sitting  to  read  to  him,  observing  that  I  used  the  English  Pronunciation,  he  told 
me,  If  I  would  have  the  Benefit  of  the  Latin  Tongue  (not  only  to  read  and  understand  Latin  Authors,  lid) 
to  Converse  with  Foreigners,  either  abroad  or  at  home,  I  must  learn  ihe  Foreign  Pronunciation.  To  this 
I  consenting,  he  instructed  me  how  to  sound  the  Vowels ;  so  different  from  the  common  Pronunci- 
ation used  by  the  English  (who  speak  Anglice  their  Latin)  that  (with  some  few  other  variations  in 
sounding  some  consonants,  in  particular  Case ;  as  G.  before  E.  or  I.  like  Oh.,  Sc.  before  I.  like  Sh. 
&c.)  the  Latin  thus  spoken,  seemed  as  different  from  that  which  was  delivered  as  the  English 
generally  speak  it,  as  if  it  was  another  Language. 

"  I  had  before,  during  my  retired  Life  at  my  Father's,  by  unwearied  Diligence  and  Industry,  so 
far  recovered  the  Rules  of  Grammar  (in  which  I  had  once  been  very  ready)  that  I  could  both  read  a 
Latin  Author,  and  after  a  sort  hammer  out  his  meaning.  But  this  Change  of  Pronunciation  proved 
a  New  Difficulty  to  me.  It  was  now  harder  to  me  to  read,  than  it  was  before  to  understand  when 

read.     But 

'  Labor  omnia  vincit 


Improbus'  • 


Incessant  Pains 
The  End  obtains. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OP    MILTON.  193 


"  And  so  did  I.  Which  made  my  reading  the  more  acceptable  to  my  Master.  He,  on  the  other 
hand,  perceiving  with  what  earnest  Desire  I  pursued  Learning  ;  gave  me  not  only  all  the  Encourage- 
ment, but  all  the  Help  he  could.  For,  having  a  curious  Ear,  he.  understood  by  my  Tone,  when  I 
understood  what  I  read,  and  when  I  did  not :  and  accordingly  would  stop  me,  Examine  me,  and 
open  the  most  difficult  Passages  to  me. 

"  Thus  went  I  on,  for  about  six  weeks  time,  reading  to  him  in  the  Afternoons,  and  exercising 
my  self,  with  my  own  Books,  in  my  Chamber,  in  the  Forenoons :  I  was  sensible  of  an  Improvement. 

"  But,  alas  !  I  had  fixed  my  studies  in  a  wrong  place.  London  and  I  could  never  agree  for 
health :  my  Lungs  (as  I  suppose)  were  too  tender  to  bear  the  Sulphurous  Air  of  that  City.  So 
that  I  soon  began  to  droop ;  and  in  less  than  two  Months  time,  I  was  fain  to  leave  both  my 
Studies  and  the  City ;  and  return  into  the  Country  to  preserve  Life :  and  much  ado  I  had  to  get 
thither." 

Ellwood  next  informs  his  readers,  that,  on  his  recovery,  he  resumed  his  studies 
at  London,  where  he  was  most  kindly  received  by  his  old  Master,  Milton,  and 
restored  to  the  same  post  he  had  previously  filled.  This  was,  however,  of  short 
duration,  owing  to  his  having  been  taken  into  custody,  by  a  party  of  soldiers,  at  a 
Meeting  of  Quakers  held  at  the  Bull  and  Mouth  by  Aldersgate,  on  the  26th  of 
August,  1662.  He  was,  with  others,  sent  to  Bridewell,  and  thence  to  Newgate, 
from  whence,  after  much  suffering,  he  was  released. 

"  Being  now  at  liberty," — Ellwood  writes,  p.  200, — "  I  visited  more  generally  my  Friends  that 
were  still  in  Prison  ;  and  more  particularly  my  Friend  and  Benefactor,  William  Penington,  at  his 
house  ;  and  then  went  to  wait  upon  my  Master  Milton.  With  whom  yet  I  could  not  propose  to  enter 
upon  my  intermitted  Studies,  until  I  had  been  in  Buckinghamshire,  to  visit  my  worthy  Friends 
Isaac  Pennington,  and  his  virtuous  Wife ;  with  other  Friends  in  that  Country." 

During  his  few  days  stay  with  his  friends,  they  proposed  to  him,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  loss  of  the  tutor  to  their  children,  that  he  should  take  the  vacant 
situation ;  which  he  did,  but  not  without  much  regret,  as  the  arrangement  altogether 
prevented  his  continuing  his  studies  under  Milton.  Misfortune,  however,  soon 
again  overtook  him.  On  the  1st  of  May,  1665,  while  attending  the  funeral  of  a 
friend  in  the  neighbourhood,  a  disturbance  arose  from  its  having  been  reported  that 
a  Quaker  was  about  to  be  buried.  The  result  was,  that  Ellwood  and  others  were 
apprehended,  and  sent  to  Alesbury  prison.  That  period  now  brings  us  to  the  last 
intercourse  Ellwood  had  with  Milton.  He  states,  pp.  233-4  : 

"  Some  little  time  before  I  went  to  Alesbury  Prison,  I  was  desired  by  my  quondam  Master  Milton 
to  take  an  House  for  him,  in  the  Neighbourhood  where  I  dwelt,  that  he  might  get  out  of  the  City, 
for  the  Safety  of  himself  and  his  Family,  the  Pestilence  then  growing  hot  in  London.  I  took  a  pretty 
Box  for  him  in  Giles-  Chaljont,  a  Mile  from  me  ;  of  which  I  gave  him  notice :  and  intended  to  have 
waited  on  him,  and  seen  him  well  settled  in  it ;  but  was  prevented  by  that  Imprisonment. 

"  But  now  being  released,  and  returned  Home,  I  soon  made  a  Visit  to  him,  to  welcome  him  into 
the  Country. 

"  After  some  common  Discourses  had  passed  between  us,  he  called  for  a  Manuscript  of  his  ; 
which  being  brought  he  delivered  to  me,  bidding  me  take  it  home  with  me,  and  read  it  at  my  Leisure : 
and  when  I  had  so  done,  return  it  to  him,  with  my  Judgment  thereupon. 

"  When  I  came  home,  and  had  set  my  self  to  read  it,  I  found  it  was  that  excellent  POEM,  which 
he  entituled  PARADISE  LOST.  After  I  had,  with  the  best  Attention,  read  it  through,  I  made  liim 
another  Visit,  and  returned  him  his  Book,  with  due  Acknowledgement  of  the  Favour  he  had  done  me, 

25 


194 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


in  Communicating  it  to  me.  He  asked  me  how  I  liked  it,  and  what  I  thought  of  it ;  which  I  modestly, 
bat  freely  told  him  :  and  after  some  further  Discourse  about  it,  I  pleasantly  said  to  him,  Thou  hast 
said  much  here  of  Paradise  lost;  but  what  hast  thou  to  say  of  jl'.i/v,//.-,  i\nn,d'f  He  made  me  no 
Answer,  but  sate  some  time  in  a  Muse ;  then  brake  of  that  Discourse,  and  fell  upon  another 
Subject. 

"After  the  Sickness  was  over,  and  the  City  well  cleansed  and  become  safely  habitable  airain,  he 
returned  thither.  And  when  afterwards  I  went  to  wait  on  him  there  (which  I  seldom  failed  of  iloinir. 
whenever  my  Occasions  drew  me  to  London)  he  showed  me  his  Second  POEM,  called  PARADISE 
REGAINED;  and  in  a  pleasant  Tone  said  to  me,  This  is  mving  to  you ;  for  you  put  if  i,itn  ,,,,/  II  ad, 
lij  the  Question  you  put  to  me  at  Chalfont,  which  before  I  hud  not  thoiyht  of.  But  from  this  Digression 
I  return  to  the  Family  I  then  lived  in." 

It  is  seen  by  the  preceding  extracts  from  the  Autobiography  of  Ell  wood,  that 
there  is  no  reason  whatever  for  supposing  that  he  at  any  time  acted  as  Amanuensis 
to  Milton;  though,  like  many  of  those  who  were  intimate  with  the  Poet,  he  may 
have  occasionally,  and  more  particularly  during  the  first  period  of  their  acquaint- 
ance, have  acted  in  that  capacity.  EUwood  continued  to  live  with  the  Peniugtons 
for  many  years,  and  married  in  1669.  As  he  does  not  again  mention  Milton, 
the  probability  is,  that,  on  the  return  of  the  Poet  to  London,  little  intercourse 
took  place  between  them,  except  in  the  occasional  visits  Ell  wood  paid  to  his  old 
Master. 


INGULAELY  remarkable  are  the  last  four  lines  of  Paradise  Regained: 

"  Thus  they  the  Son  of  God  our  Saviour  meek 
Sung  Victor,  and  from  Heavenly  Feast  refresh'd' 
Brought  on  his  way  with  joy;  he  unobservd 
Home  to  his  Mother's  house  private  return'd." 

We  acknowledge  our  total  incapacity  of  criticizing  the  diction  of  the  Great  Poet, 
Milton ;  but  we  venture  an  opinion,  that,  had  any  other  mind  than  his  composed 
the  above  lines,  as  the  conclusion  of  a  poem1  on  such  a  subject,  they  would  have 
not  remained  long  unnoticed  for  their  very  peculiar  manner  of  delineating  the 
return  of  our  Blessed  Saviour,  after  "The  Temptation  in  the  Wilderness,"  to  his 
earthly  mother,  ere  he  entered  upon  these  predestined  duties,  for  the  fulfilment 
of  which  alone,- THE  SALVATION  OF  MAN,- he  left  the  glories  of  his  Heavenly 
Kingdom,  embracing  Humanity  in  the  humble  position  of  the  Son  of  a  Carpenter. 

"Of  Paradise  Regained," observes2  Dr.  Johnson,  "the  general  judgement  seems 


1  Milton  appears  to  have  closed  his  Poem, 
Paradise  Regained,  ere  its  subject  may  be  said 
to  have  commenced.  The  Poet  sublimely  de- 
scribes the  Victory  of  our  Blessed  Saviour 
over  the  Temptations  of  Satan,  paving,  as  it 


were,  the  road  to  the  Gates  of  Heaven  ;  but  the 
Poet  leaves  to  his  Reader  the  realization  of 
"Paradise 


2  Life  of  Milton,  by  Johnson. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


195 


now  to  be  right,  that  it  is  in  many  parts  elegant,  and  everywhere  instructive.  It 
was  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  writer  of  Paradise  Lost  could  ever  write  without 
great  effusions  of  fancy,  and  exalted  precepts  of  wisdom.  The  basis  of  Paradise 
Regained  is  narrow ;  a  dialogue  without  action  can  never  please  like  an  union  of 
the  narrative  and  dramatic  powers.  Had  this  poem  been  written,  not  by  Milton, 
but  by  some  imitator,  it  would  have  claimed  and  received  universal  praise."  What 
a  noble  admission  on  the  part  of  the  Great  Critic,  JOHNSON  ! 


ANDREW  MARVELL  being  one  of  the  most  constant  friends  of  Milton, 
and  acting  as  Assistant-Secretary  to  the  Poet  when  he  became  bereft 
of  his  sight,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  he  might  have  occasionally 
acted  as  his  Amanuensis.  In  plate  XXIV.,  No.  5,  we  have  given  in 
fac-simile  the  commencement  and  ending  of  a  letter1  from  Andrew 
Marvell.  It  is  there  seen  that  the  handwriting  is  of  a  totally  different  character 
from  any  that  we  have  met  with  among  the  papers  connected  with  Milton. 


1  It  forms  one  in  the  collection  of  Letters 
and  Papers  usually,  but  erroneously,  called  "  THE 
MILTON  STATE  PAPERS,"  respecting  which  the 
subjoined  note  occurs  in  "  The  BibllograpJier's 
Manual"  by  Lowndes :  "  These  State  Papers 
were  probably  collected  by  Milton  with  a  view 
to  render  them  subservient  to  some  particular 
or  general  history  of  his  times."  The  Papers 
do  not  contain  any  internal  evidence  of  having 
belonged  to  the  Poet ! 

As  a  Member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries of  London,  we  find,  on  searching  the 
original  Minutes  of  the  Society,  the  subjoined 
note  of  the  Documents  referred  to  : 

"  Mr.  Ames,  from  Mr.  John  Nickolls,  pre- 
sented the  Society  with  a  large  Folio  bound 
with  guards,  being  letters  of  several  Persons  to 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  were  formerly  the  collec- 
tion of  John  Milton,  who  left  them  to  Mr 

Wyatt  of  London,  merchant,  with  whom  our 
deceased  Member,  Mr.  John  Nickolls,  Junior, 
served  his  time,  and  at  his  master's  decease  his 
Mrs.  gave  them  to  him.  Now  they  being 
printed  in  Folio  1 743,  with  this  Title  :  Original 
Letters  and  Papers  of  State  addressed  to  Oliver 


Cromwell ;  concerning  the  affairs  of  Great  Britain. 
From,  the  year  1649  to  1658.  Found  among  tlie 
political  collection  of  Mr.  John  Milton.  Now  first 
publislied  from  tJie  originals  By  John  Nickolls, 
Junr.,  Member  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries, 
London.  His  Father  gave  with  the  originals  a 
note  in  these  words,  viz.  : 

"  '  In  consideration  of  the  esteem  my  Son  had 
for  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  London,  of 
which  he  was  member,  I  do  give  this  manu- 
script collection  of  Letters  of  Oliver  Cromwell, 
to  be  by  them  preserved  for  publick  use. 

'  JOHN  NICKOLLS. 
"  '  London,  15th  Jan.  1746.'  " 

"  The  above  is  a  faithful  extract  from  fol.  113 
of  Vol.  V.  of  the  Minutes  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries, Thursday,  15th  Jan.  1746. 

"  C.  KNIGHT  WATSON,  Secretary. 
"Oct.  2,1860." 

As  an  Encouragement  to  others  to  bestow 
similar  Collections  to  the  Society,  the  Council 
could  not  have  done  better  than  to  have  printed 
the  contents  of  the  volume,  a  volume  given  to 
be  "preserved  for  pubUck  use." 


•25* 


196 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


THE    LICENSED    MANUSCRIPT 

OF   THE 

FIKST    BOOK    OF    PARADISE    LOST. 


PLATE    XXV.    Nos.  1,  2,  AND  3. 

T  is  remarkable  that  Bishop  Newton  is  the  only  biographer  of  the 
Poet  who  records  the  existence  of  the  very  interesting  Manu- 
script in  the  possession  of  William  Baker,1  Esq.,  of  Bayfordbury, 
Hertfordshire.  In  his  Memoir  of  the  Poet,  prefixed  to  the 
variorum  edition  of  Paradise  Lost,  1761,  p.  Ivii.,  he  states  that 
not  only  was  the  original2  contract  for  the  sale  of  the  copyright 
of  that  Poem,  April  27,  1667,  in  the  possession  of  Tonson,  the 
bookseller,  but  "  likewise  the  manuscript  of  the  first  book  copied  fair  for  the  press, 
with  the  Imprimatur  by  Thomas  Tomkyns,  Chaplain  to  the  Archbislwp  of  Canter- 
bury ;  so  that  though  Milton  was  forced  to  make  use  of  different  hands  to  write  his 
verses  from  time  to  time,  as  he  had  occasion,  yet  we  may  suppose  that  the  copy 
for  the  press  was  written  all,  or  at  least  each  book,  by  the  same  hand." 

It  appears  extraordinary,  that  subsequent  editors  and  biographers  of  the  Poet,- 
men  distinguished  in  literature  for  their  indefatigable  industry  and  research,- should 
not  have  sought  out  the  present  location  of  the  said  Manuscript.  It  was  quite 
by  accident,  as  stated,  p.  165,  that  we  became  acquainted  with  it.  We  had 
anticipated  and  hoped  that  it  would  turn  out  to  be  in  the  same  handwriting  as 
that  employed  by  the  Amanuensis  of  Milton  in  the  latter  portion  of  the  Treatise 
De  Doctrind  Christiana,  and  in  the  copies  of  some  of  the  Sonnets  in  the  Trinity 
College  Manuscript. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Baker,  we  have  been  permitted  to  have  the  first, 
and  a  portion  of  another  page  taken  in  fac-simile,-Nos.  1  and  2  in  the  present 
plate.  In  these  pages  the  reader  will  see,  that,  though  at  first  sight  there  is  a 
similarity  in  the  style  of  the  hand  to  that  of  the  smaller  cursive  hand  in  specimen  2, 
plate  XX.,  and  specimen  2,  plate  XXII.,  from  the  De  Doctrind  Christiana-^. 
similarity,  such  as  frequently  exists  in  the  peculiar  secretary  hand  of  the  period,- 
yet  the  difference  between  the  two  hands  is  such,  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  the  fair 
copy  of  the  First  Book  of  Paradise  Lost,  forming  the  now  Baker  Manuscript, 


1  Sir  William  Baker,  the  father  of  the  late 
William  Baker,  the  Member  for  Hertford,  and 
grandfather  of  the  present  William  Baker, 
married  Mary  the  eldest  daughter  of  Jacob 


Tonson,  jun.,  the  nephew  of  Jacob  Tonson,  sen. 

2  That  presented  by  Samuel  Rogers,  the  Poet, 
to  the  British  Museum. 


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THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


197 


having  been  written  by  another  person.  It  is  also  stated  by  Bishop  Newton,  no 
doubt  on  the  authority  of  Tonson,  that  it  was  the  fair  copy  made  for  the  press ; 
the  Bishop  afterwards  observing,  that  the  remaining  books  were  probably  copied  for 
the  press  by  the  same  hand.  It  may  be  interesting  to  notice  that  the  Manuscript 
of  the  First  Book  under  consideration,  is  evidently  in  the  same  state  as  it  was  when 
sent  to  be  licensed.  It  is  written  on  seventeen  leaves,  small  4to.,  independent  of 
the  outer  leaf  containing  on  the  reverse  the  subjoined  inscription  : 

"Imprimatur 

"  Tho.  Tomkyns   iPm°  in  Christo  Patri  ac  Domino  Dno  Gilberto 
divind  Providentid  Archiepiscopo  Cantuariensi  d  sacris  domesticis. 

"Richard  Royston. 

"Int.p  Geo.  Tokefeilde  Cl. 

The  leaves  are  merely  stitched;  and  it  has  never  had  any  kind  of  binding,  the 
first  and  last  leaves,  half  a  folio  sheet,  forming  the  covering.  The  Book  ends  on 
the  recto  of  the  last  leaf  but  one,  but  without  any  indication  of  there  being  a  further 
portion ;  though  the  note  of  its  being  only  the  first  Book  occurs  as  the  running-title 
on  the  top  of  each  leaf.  The  circumstance  of  the  last  three  pages  being  blank,  induces 
us  to  believe  that  no  more  than  the  first  Book  was  at  that  time  sent  to  be  licensed. 
The  licence,  as  given  in  fac-simile  No.  3,  is  written  on  the  reverse  of  the  outer 
leaf.  The  first  portion  is  probably  in  the  autograph  of  Thomas  Tomkyns,  Chaplain 
to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  It  bears  no  date ;  but,  as  Gilbert  Sheldon  suc- 
ceeded Archbishop  Juxon,  who  died  June  20,  1663,  the  Licence  must  have  been 
granted  after  that  date,  and  before  1678:  Archbishop  Sheldon  having  died  in  1677. 
That  it  was  granted  before  April  27, 16 77,  is  most  certain,  as  the  Deed  of  Agreement 
for  its  sale  mentions  "All  that  Booke,  Copy,  Manuscript  of  a  Poem  intituled  Para- 
dise Lost"  and  " noiv  lately  licensed  to  be  printed."  We  had  hoped  to  have  found 
some  entry  of  the  imprimatur  in  the  Register  at  Lambeth  Palace;  but  our  researches 
in  that  quarter,  through  Mr.  John  Bohn,  with  the  kind  permission  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  and  his  Secretary,  Mr.  Felix  Knyvett,  have  not  met  with  any 
success.  It  appears  that  the  applications  for  the  Licences  to  print  were  not  at  that 
period  preserved.  Through  the  kindness  of  our  friend,  Mr.  Henry  Foss,  the  Master 
of  the  Honourable  Stationers'  Company,  we  find  the  subjoined  entry  relating  to  the 
copyright  of  Paradise  Lost  : 

"August  20,  1667. 
"Mr.  Sam.  Symons. 

"Entered  for  his  Copie  under  the  hands  of  Mr.  Thomas  Tomkyns']  <, 
and   Mr.   Warden   Royston,1  a   Booke   or  Copie   Intituled  fvi. 
Paradise  lost,  A  Poem  in  Tenne  bookes  by  I.  M." 


led  > 


1   Richard    Royston   was   then   Warden ;    it 
being   probably   necessary,  as   at   the   present 


time,  that  such  entries  should  be  made  under 
the  hand  of  the  Warden. 


198 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    KMTIDATIOX    OF 


HEN  the  great  epic,"  writes  Dr.  Symmons  in  his  Life  of  the  Poet, 
p.  521,  "was  completely  prepared  for  the  press,  its  birth  was  on  the 
point  of  being  intercepted  by  the  malignity,  or  rather  perhaps  by 
the  perverse  sagacity  of  the  licenser;  whose  quick  nostril  distin- 
guished the  scent  of  treason  in  that  well-known  simile  of  the  sun  in 


the  first  book 


'As  when  the  sun  new-risen 


Looks  through  the  horizontal  misty  air, 
Shorn  of  his  beams ;  or,  from  behind  the  moon, 
In  dim  eclipse  disastrous  twilight  sheds 
On  half  the  nations,  and  ivithfear  of  change 
Perplexes  monardis.' 

"The  office  of  licenser,  which  had  been  abolished  during  the  usurpation  of 
Cromwell,  had  now  been  restored,  for  a  limited  time,  by  an  Act  of  Parliament 
passed  in  1662.  By  this  Act,  the  press,  with  reference  to  its  different  productions, 
was  placed  under  the  dominion  of  the  Judges,  some  of  the  Officers  of  the  State,  and 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Poetry  falling  within  the  province  of  the  latter,  the 
fate  of  Paradise  Lost  was  committed  to  the  judgment  of  the  Eeverend  Thomas 
Tomkyns,  one  of  the  chaplains  of  Archbishop  Sheldon." 

In  the  Appendix  to  the  Life  of  Milton  by  Birch,  prefixed  to  the  first  volume  of 
the  Prose  Works  of  Milton,  published  in  2  vols.,  folio,  by  Millar,  1738,  occurs  as  "xv" 
of  the  Testimonies  in  support  of  the  Icon  Basilike  being  the  genuine  production  of 
King  Charles  I.,  a  statement  that  Mr.  Royston  informed  Sir  William  Dugdale  "  that 
about  the  beginning  of  October  1648,  he  was  sent  by  the  King  to  prepare  all  tlu'ngs 
ready  for  the  printing  of  some  Papers  ;  which  he  purposed  shortly  after  to  convey 
unto  him  ;  and  which  was  this  very  copy  brought  to  him  on  the  23d  December  next 
following  by  Mr.  Edward  Symmons  ;  in  the  printing  whereof  Mr.  Eoyston  made  such 
speed  that  it  was  finished  before  the  30  of  January,  on  which  his  Majesty's  Life  was 
taken  away." 

Eichard  Eoyston  was  at  that  time  the  Eoyal  Printer.  He  had  served  Charles  I. 
in  that  capacity,  and  was  continued  in  that  office  during  the  Eeigns  of  Charles  II. 
and  James  II.  He  was  buried  at  Christ  Church,  Newgate-street,  his  epitaph  being 
"Eichard  Eoyston,1  Printer  to  3  Kings,  died  1686,  in  his  86th  year."  Our  kind 
and  venerable  friend,  Mr.  Nichols,  informs  us,  that  "He  gave  some  plate  to  the 
Stationers'  Company.  He  had  a  patent  granted  him  for  the  printing  of  the  Works 


1  Many  interesting  particulars  of  Royston  are 
related  in  "THE  LITERARY  ANECDOTES,"  one  of 
the  most  charming  works  of  the  present  period. 
It  is  a  work  essentially  requisite  in  the  library 
of  all  who  desire  to  acquaint  themselves  with 


the  Literary  History  and  Authors  of  the  past 
and  present  centuries.  It  was  commenced  in 
1812,  by  John  Nichols;  and  continued  and  com- 
pleted in  the  present  year,  1860,  by  his  son, 
John  Bowyer  Nichols,  F.S.A.,  etc. 


THE  AUTOGRAPH   OP    MILTON.  199 


of  King  Charles  I.  He  Avas  connected  with  the  Chiswell  Family.  The  Roystons 
and  Chiswells  were  Booksellers,  leading  men  in  an  occupation  worthy  of  the  highest 
respect  when  taken  up  with  a  feeling  to  promote  the  interests  of  literature, 
beyond  the  mere  desire  of  amassing  wealth  by  the  indiscriminate  use  of  type,  ink, 
and  paper." 

|  HE  question  that  now  arises,  is,  whether  the  Manuscript  was  really  that 
from  which  the  first  edition  of  that  portion  of  the  work  was  printed.  In 
the  fac-simile  from  the  first  page,  it  is  seen,  that  the  Amanuensis  had 
in  the  first  instance  written  the  first  letter  of  each  line  in  the  small 
character,  and  that  afterwards  he  altered  each  letter  to  a  capital. 
That  peculiarity  pervades  the  first  three  pages,  though  in  the  fourth  page,  the 
copyist  occasionally  forgot  his  fresh  instructions.  The  fact  of  the  orthography 
differing  constantly  throughout,  and  there  being  no  indication  for  the  use  of  italics, 
so  frequent  in  the  printed  text  of  the  first  edition,  induces  us,  with  the  additional 
fact  of  the  manuscript  not  having  been  at  all  soiled,  to  think  that  another  transcript 
was  made  for  the  printer,  and  that  the  present  manuscript  was  preserved  intact  as 
the  document  authorizing  the  printing  of  the  work,  by  Sheldon,  Abp.  of  Canterbury. 
There  is  most  certainly  a  degree  of  mystery  connected  with  the  printing  and 
publication  of  Paradise  Lost,  which  has  been  hitherto  unaccounted  for.  The  diffi- 
culty in  obtaining  the  license  for  its  printing  had  been  got  over ;  and  yet  we  find 
that  Samuel  Simmons,  a  printer,  who  had  purchased  the  copyright,  substituted  the 
name  of  another  printer,  Peter  Parker,  on  the  title-page ;  whose  name  also  appears 
in  the  imprint  on  the  titles  to  the  copies  issued  in  1667,  and  in  part  during  1668,  in 
which  latter  year  S.  Simmons  suddenly  comes  forth,  acknowledging  himself  as  the 
printer  of  the  work.  It  has  been  shown,  pp.  81-2,  that  there  were  no  less  than  nine 
title-pages,  all  varying,  used  in  the  different  issues  of  the  first  edition  of  the  work. 
Why  was  it,  that,  in  the  title  wherein  the  name  of  Simmons  first  appears  as  the 
Printer,  the  notice  "Licensed  and  entered  according  to  order"  is  omitted ?  Did 
Simmons  fear  to  allow  his  name,  in  the  first  instance,  to  appear  as  the  printer  of  a 
work  bearing  the  name  of  John  Milton,  who,  though  not  politically  persecuted  at 
that  period,  had  still  very  many  enemies  1  Such  was  probably  the  case ;  but 
when  he  found  that  the  Poem  was  not  condemned,  and  that,  notwithstanding  the 
prejudice  against  the  author,  the  work  successfully  took  ground,  he  no  longer  hesi- 
tated, but  issued  the  remaining  copies  in  1668,  under  his  own  name  as  the  printer. 
Simmons  subsequently  sold  the  copyright  to  Brabazon  Aylmer,  the  bookseller,  for 
twenty-five  pounds,  so  that,  after  all,  Simmons  cannot  be  said  to  have  realized  a  large 
sum  by  his  original  purchase.  The  copyright  was  afterwards  bought  of  Aylmer  by 
Jacob  Tonson  at  a  considerable  advance ;  at  which  time,  Tonson,  no  doubt,  became  the 
possessor  of  the  licensed  manuscript  copy  of  the  First  Book  of  the  Poem  and  the 
original  articles  of  agreement  between  Samuel  Simmons  and  the  Poet. 


200  RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


lINCE  penning  the  preceding,  we  have  accidentally  become 
acquainted  with  some  rather  interesting  information  respecting 
the  Assignment  by  Milton  of  the  copyright  of  his  Paradise  Lost 
to  S.  Simmons  in  1667;  consequent  on  our  finding,  when  on  a 
visit  to  William  Baker,  of  Bayfordbury,  Hertfordshire,  Esq.,  that 
it  had  evidently  formed  part  and  parcel  of  some  "  Tonson 
Papers,"  in  the  possession  of  his  family,  inherited  by  his  great 
grandfather,  Sir  William  Baker  of  Bayfordbury,  who  married  Mary,  the  eldest 
daughter  of  Jacob  Tonson,  junior. 

Bishop  Newton,  in  his  Memoir  of  the  Poet  prefixed  to  the  variorum  edition  of 
Paradise  Lost,  1761,  4to.,  p.  Ivii,  states,  as  we  have  previously  noticed,  that  the  Docu- 
ment was  then  in  the  possession  of  JACOB  TONSON.  In  the  "  Bibliographical  Account 
of  Milton's  Poetical  Works,"  which  appeared  in  " The  Retrospective  Review"  vol.  xiv., 
1 826,  pp.  282-305,  it  is  stated,  p.  29  4,  that  "  the  copyright  contract  of  the  Poet  with  the 
bookseller  Symmons,  who  purchased  the  manuscript  poem,  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Pickering,  who,  we  believe,  obtained  it  through  the  representatives  of  the 
Tonson  family.  As  this  classical  and  interesting  relic  has  for  a  century  and  a  half 
eluded  the  research  of  the  biographers  and  bibliographers,  we  insert  it,  correctly 
copied  from  the  original." 

The  author  of  the  article  in  the  Eeview  evidently  had  intercourse  with  the  late 
Mr.  Pickering,  as  shown  by  his  having  been  permitted  to  make  a  transcript  of  the 
document.  It  is,  therefore,  singular  that,  when  alluding  to  it,  he  should  have  stated 
that  he  "  believed" -"  it  was  obtained  through  the  representatives  of  the  Tonson  Family," 
as,  on  enquiry  of  Mr.  Pickering,  he  would  have  at  once  learned  that  such  was  not  the 
fact.  Mysteriousness  is  a  habit  frequently  adopted  when  there  is  really  not  the 
least  occasion  for  it.  The  simple  question  is  this  :  If  Mr.  Pickering  purchased 
the  document  at  a  public  sale,  how  could  he  be  said  to  have  "  obtained  it  through  the 
representatives  of  the  Tonson  Family."  In  the  "  Advertisement "  to  vol.  i.  of  the 
Poetical  Works  of  Milton,  edited  by  the  Eevercnd  John  Mitford,  1851,  the  publisher, 
Mr.  Pickering,  notes,  in  referring  to  the  Deed  of  Assignment,  that  "  It  was  once  in 
the  possession  of  the  Publisher  of  this  Edition,  and  was  sold  by  him  for  one  hundred 
guineas."  A  fac-simile  of  the  document,  engraved  by  Swaine,  accompanied  that 
edition. 

It  has  been  clearly  shown,  on  the  authority  of  Bishop  Newton,  that  in  1 761  the 
document  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Tonson  Family,  together  with  the  manuscript 
of  the  first  book  of  Paradise  Lost. 

In  Willis's  Current  Notes  for  July  1857,  is  an  interesting  article  on  the  Kit  Cat 
Club  and  the  collection  of  Portraits  of  its  Members.  The  article  thus  closes,  p.  51  : 


THE   AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


201 


"  Jacob  Tonson,  the  third  bookseller  of  the  name,  served  the  office  of  High  Sheriff  for  the 
county  of  Surrey  in  1750  ;  and  in  1759  paid  the  customary  fine  for  being  excused  to  serve  as  Sheriff 
of  London  and  Middlesex.  He  conducted  his  business  with  great  liberality  in  the  same  shop  which  had 
been  so  many  years  possessed  by  his  father  and  great  uncle,  opposite  Catherine  Street,  in  the  Strand  ; 
but  some  years  before  his  death  moved  to  a  new  house  he  had  built  on  the  other  side,  now  No.  345, 
near  Catherine  Street,  where  he  died  without  issue,  March  31,  1767.  The  house  was  then  Mr.  Hod- 
soil's,  the  banker,  and  here  remained  a  large  depositary  of  Pope's  and  other  letters,  the  correspond- 
ence of  the  Tonsons,  to  which  latterly  no  particular  attention  being  paid,  the  whole  disappeared, 
and  was  destroyed,  it  was  said,  by  the  servants." 

If  we  mistake  not,  the  younger  Tonson  had  a  large  share  in  the  partnership 
of  the  banking  establishment  of  Mr.  Hodsoll,  and  subsequently  of  Messrs.  Hodsoll 
and  Stirling,  the  business  being  conducted  in  the  house  in  the  Strand  built  by  Tonson 
on  his  removal  from  the  old  house  nearly  opposite,  called  " Shakespeare's  Head" 
afterwards  occupied  by  Andrew  Miller,  the  publisher,  and  at  his  death  by  Thomas 
Cadell,  his  apprentice.  It  has  been  since  rebuilt,  it  being  No.  141,  three  doors  from 
the  house  in  which  the  sales  by  auction  of  Libraries,  Collections  of  Prints,  Coins, 
Antiquities,  etc.  were  carried  on  by  Messrs.  Leigh  &  Sotheby,  from  1805  until  the 
removal  of  the  business  by  the  late  Samuel  Sotheby  in  1819  to  Wellington  Street, 
Strand,  a  business  which  had  been  commenced  in  1744  by  SAMUEL  BAKEK,  a  Book- 
seller.1 


1  SAMUEL  BAKER  was  for  many  years  distin- 
guished as  an  eminent  bookseller  of  the  early  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  Sale  of  Libraries 
by  Public  Auction  commenced  as  early  as  1676, 
with  that  of  Dr.  Seaman,  by  William  Cooper, 
bookseller,  who  was  afterwards  joined  by  Ed- 
ward Millington.  They  were  succeeded  by  the 
Ballards,  Samuel  Paterson,  and  Samuel  Baker ; 
the  latter  making  his  debut  as  an  Auctioneer  of 
Books  in  the  sale  of  the  Library  of  Thomas 
Pellet,  in  the  Great  Boom  over  Exeter  Change, 
Jwnuary  1744;  the  room  afterwards  used  for 
the  Exhibition  of  Wild  Beasts  !  At  that  period, 
as  at  the  present,  Libraries  were  sometimes  sold 
by  the  Auctioneers  of  Pictures,  Furniture,  and 
such  like,  viz. : — Gerard,  Christie,  Cock,  Lang- 
ford,  etc.  Samuel  Baker,  however,  was  the  first 
Bookseller  who  turned  his  more  immediate  atten- 
tion to  the  Sale  of  Libraries ;  and  though  he  con- 
tinued occasionally  to  publish  Catalogues  of  his 
own  stock  of  Books,  as  a  Trading  Bookseller  and 
Publisher,  his  object  was  to  found  a  business  as 
the  Leading  Auctioneer  of  Books. 

Mr.  Baker  was,  for  those  days,  a  wealthy  and 
independent  man ;  spending,  during  the  latter 
years  of  his  life,  the  greater  portion  of  his  time 


in  journeying,  on  an  old  favourite  horse,  to  and 
from  his  residence  at  Woodford  Bridge,  near 
Chigwell,  in  Essex,  in  which  part  he  possessed 
two  other  small  estates.  He  left  the  general 
management  of  his  business  to  his  assistant, 
Mr.  George  Leigh,  the  youngest  son  of  Dr. 
Egerton  Leigh,  Archdeacon  of  Salop  and  Canon 
of  Hereford;  who,  having  a  large  family  of 
boys,  placed  the  youngest  one,  George,  as  a 
youth,  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Baker ;  by  whom  he 
was  afterwards  taken  into  Partnership.  Baker 
and  Leigh,  while  continuing  and  carrying  on 
their  business  as  Booksellers,  established  them- 
selves as  Book  Auctioneers.  Mr.  Samuel  Baker 
then  brought  into  the  business  his  nephew, 
Mr.  John  Sotheby  ;  to  whom,  on  his  death,  in 
1778,  he  bequeathed  all  his  property.  The  firm, 
previously  carried  on  by  Baker,  Leigh,  and 
Sotheby,  was  continued  by  Leigh  and  Sotheby ; 
and  subsequently  by  Leigh,  Sotheby,  and  Son, 
—Mr.  Samuel  Sotheby,  the  eldest  son,  who  had 
been  brought  up  in  the  business. 

Owing  to  unhappy  family  circumstances,  the 
firm  was  dissolved  in  1804,  Mr.  George  Leigh 
and  Mr.  Samuel  Sotheby  removing  to  145, 
Strand ;  while  Mr.  John  Sotheby  remained  in 


26 


202 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


HE  Document  under  consideration  may  at  one  time  have  been  among 
the  "  Tonson  Papers"  mentioned  by  the  author  of  the  article  quoted 
from  "  Willis's  Notes  and  Queries."  We  can  quite  understand  how- 
such  manuscripts,  having  been  deposited  and  remaining  for  more 
than  half  a  century  in  the  cellars  of  a  banking  house,  or  in  any  house 


the  old  house,  York-street,  Covent  Garden. 
Mr.  Sotheby,  senior,  had  not  been  brought  up 
as  a  man  of  business.  He  was  a  man  of  consi- 
derable taste  and  elegant  deportment.  He 
painted  well,  engraved  well,  and  carved  well. 
Imbued  with  a  feeling  of  being  the  fallen  Repre- 
sentative of  the  Eldest  Branch  of  the  Sotheby 
Family,  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  the  East 
Riding  of  Yorkshire,  near  Pocklington,  where 
they  were  settled  in  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth 
century; — the  beautiful  church  of  that  place 
having  been  built  by  John  Sotheby  about  1450. 
His  monumental  cross,  erected  on  the  occasion, 
has  been  lately  restored  by  us,  and  placed  at 
the  entrance  of  the  churchyard,  and  a  copy  of  it 
in  the  Monumental  Court  of  the  Crystal  Palace 
at  Sydenham. 

Mr.  Sotheby  attended  too  little  to  the  means 
of  supporting  the  position  in  which  he  had  been 
placed  by  the  property  bequeathed  to  him  by  his 
Uncle,  Samuel  Baker ;  and  consequently  on  his 
death,  within  three  years  of  his  being  in  business 
by  himself,  little  of  the  Baker  Property  remained. 

Messrs.  Leigh  and  Sotheby  having  firmly 
established  themselves  in  the  Strand,  as  The 
First  Auctioneers  for  the  disposal  of  Libraries, 
gave  up  their  business  as  Booksellers  and  Pub- 
lishers. 

Of  Mr.  George  Leigh,  who  died  in  1816,  that 
eccentric  but  clever  bookseller,  William  Gardi- 
ner, of  Pall  Mall,  has  remarked  in  one  of  his 
Catalogues,  while  criticizing  that  portion  of 
the  "Bibliomania"  allotted  to  the  Auction  Room : 
"Even  the  keystone  of  the  arch,  the  Auc- 
tioneer, is  forgotten ;  an  omission,  like  the  name 
in  an  epitaph,  inexcusable,  particularly  as  Mr. 
Leigh  was  not  made  'by  one  of  Nature's  journey- 
men.' Nay,  I  think  he  would  even  tempt  a 
pencil  of  taste.  However,  I  won't  suffer  him  to 
be  out  of  print ;  and  so  I'll  e'en  try  my  rough 
charcoal  on  his  effiyies.  Mr.  Leigh,  to  the  birth, 
person,  and  manners  of  a  gentleman,  adds,  in 
the  autumn  of  life,  the  cheerfulness,  the  bloom, 


and  the  gentle,  friendly  warmth  of  spring ;  and 
during  a  space  of  forty  years  devoted  to  the 
service  of  the  publick,  has  attended  to  its  inter- 
ests, whatever  might  be  the  magnitude,  with 
the  utmost  vigilance,  impartiality,  and  success ; 
and,  in  a  profession  accompanied  by  much 
trouble,  perplexity,  confusion,  and  uncertainty, 
has  spared  neither  his  person  nor  purse  to  in- 
troduce regularity,  method,  and  precision  ;  and 
has  preserved  a  character  not  only  unstained 
and  unsuspected,  but  highly  honourable.  His 
discharge  of  duty  during  the  hour  of  sale  can- 
not be  too  highly  praised,  whether  for  a  grace- 
fulness of  delivery,  that  adds  interest  to  such  a 
correct  enunciation  of  his  articles  as  each  of 
their  Authors  would  approve ;  or  for  that  polished 
suavity  with  which  he  moderates  the  occasional 
asperity  of  contending  parties ;  whether  he 
checks  with  a  Ion  mot  the  Doctor's  [the  learned 
Dr.  Gosset]  rarely  unchristian  want  of  bene- 
volence to  an  unfortunate  classick,  or  \\iili 
irresistible  politeness  induces  Dom.  Atticus 
[Richard  Heber]  to  indulge  the  room  with  a 
slight  glance  of  the  contested  prize ;  whether 
he  reinvigorates  the  declining  powers  of  the 
combatants  with  the  effluvia  of  his  '  spirit-stir- 
ring horn'  [silver  snuff-box],  or  crowns  glorious 
victory  with  a  triumphant  laurel  of  brown  rap- 
pee. The  battle  ended,  a  gentlemanly  attention 
to  the  wounds  of  every  unfortunate  hero,  from 
whatever  cause  they  arise, — furnishes  a  rude 
index  to  a  few,  and  only  a  few,  of  the  virtues 
and  accomplishments  of  Mr.  Leigh." 

It  was  not  until  the  recent  possession, 
through  the  kindness  of  our  venerable  friend, 
Mr.  John  Bowyer  Nichols,  of  a  copy  of  his 
Father's  and  his  own  very  interesting  and  valu- 
able "Literary  Anecdotes  and  Illustrations  of  tin' 
Eighteenth  Century,"  that  we  became  acquainted 
with  the  preceding  testimonial  from  the  pen  of 
so  severe  a  critic  as  that  extraordinary  book- 
seller, Gardiner,  in  praise  of  our  Godfather  and 
Predecessor,  Mr.  George  Leigh. 


THE    AUTOGRAPH    OF    MILTON. 


203 


of  business,  where  there  was  nobody  who  had  any  interest  to  preserve  them,  would 
get  neglected, — no  claim  having  been  probably  made  by  the  representatives  of  the 
Family  to  whom  they  belonged,  arising  perhaps  from  their  ignorance  of  such  property 
being  there.  We  can  readily  conceive,  how  a  Partner  or  Head  Clerk  in  such  a 
house,  possessing  a  taste  for  literature,  or  being  a  collector,  or  having  friends  who 
were  collectors  of  Autograph  Letters,  wyould  in  his  spare  hours  occasionally  amuse 
himself  and  them  in  looking  over  such  papers, — how  such  papers  might  then  be 
placed  on  one  side,  and,  from  time  to  time,  get  purloined  and  ultimately  disappear 
altogether,  only  to  re-appear  occasionally  in  the  Portfolios  of  Collectors  and  in 
Public  Museums,  wherein  they  may  have  found  a  resting-place  after  having  passed 
through  several  persons'  hands,  no  questions  having  arisen  as  to  whence  they  were 
obtained,  or  by  whose  authority  they  were  sold.  These  cases,  we  fear,  are  of 
frequent  occurrence,  owing  in  many  instances  to  such  property  having  been  perhaps 
confided  by  the  owner  to  some  friends  for  literary  purposes,  or  to  some  bailee 
for  safe  keeping,  without  any  indication  of  the  name  of  the  person  to  whom  such 
property  belonged.  We  have  purposely  repeated  the  words  such  property,  because  it 
is  property  of  a  very  peculiar  character,- valuable  property  of  considerable  historical 
and  literary  interest. 

In  exemplification  of  the  above  remarks,  we  may  state,1  that,  in  the  year  1824, 
a  person  in  the  possession  of  some  of  the  " Tonson  Papers"  decamped  from  his 
lodgings  at  the  house  of  a  Tailor  in  Clifford  Street,  Bond  Street,  leaving  his  landlord 
minus  his  rent.  Whether  on  his  departure  he  left  to  his  landlord  "Some  Manuscripts" 
as  any  kind  of  security,  we  do  not  know ;  but  the  Knight  of  the  Scissors  finding  these 
Manuscripts  in  the  apartment  of  his  Lodger  betook  himself  to  turn  them  into  cash  ; 
and  accordingly  he  or  his  man  called  on  a  neighbour,  one  Septimus  Prowett,  a  Book- 
seller, then  of  some  note  in  Bond  Street,  and  offered  to  sell  to  him  "  some  Manuscript 
Papers,  comprising  the  Agreement  for  the  Sale  by  Milton  of  the  copyright  of  Paradise 
Lost  to  S.  Simmons  ;-the  Agreement  for  the  Sale  of  the  Translation  of  Virgil  by 
Dryden  ;-and  some  other  papers,  for  the  Spectator  and  Tatler,  with  the  signatures  of 
Steele,  Addison,  etc."  The  Tailor  told  the  Bookseller  Prowett,  that  "the  Papers  had 
been  given  to  him  to  sell,  and  the  proceeds  were  to  pay  a  Lodging  score."  Mr.  Prowett, 
who  was  at  that  time  engaged  in  preparing  for  publication  his  magnificent  edition  of 
Paradise  Lost,  illustrated  with  the  Series  of  Engravings  after  the  designs  of  Martin, 
offered  for  the  whole  the  sum  of  £25,  which  was  accepted.  Of  the  Agreement 
for  the  Sale  of  Paradise  Lost  Mr.  Prowett  had  a  fac-simile  engraved  by  J.  Messenger, 
with  the  view  of  presenting  an  impression  to  each  of  the  Subscribers  to  that  edition. 
Misfortunes,  however,  during  the  year  182  4,- a  year  so  calamitous  to  the  mercantile 
interest-overwhelmed  him,  and  thus  deprived  him  of  the  pleasure  of  making  his 
intended  gift  to  the  Subscribers  for  "Martin's  Milton."  Being  desirous,  however,  of 

1  For  this  information  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Septimus  Prowett  and  to  Mr.  John  Bryant,  formerly 
well  known  as  booksellers. 


204 


RAMBLINGS    IN    THE    ELUCIDATION    OF 


turning  his  recently  purchased  Manuscripts  to  a  profitable  account,  he  sent  them  all 
in  1825  to  the  Auction  Room  of  Mr.  Southgate,  where  they  were  sold,  February  28th, 
1826, — and  on  reference  to  the  Sale  Catalogues  of  that  date,  we  find  that  the  Manu- 
scripts were  entered  as  subjoined  : 

118  Assignment  of  the  History  of  England,  20  March,  1706,  signed,  Lau  Echard,  Temple  Stanyan; 

and  Assignment  of  Abra  Mule,  1  Jan.,  signed,  Joseph  Trap.        Bought  by  Mr.  Upcott  for  4s. 

119  Assignment  of  Spectators,  5  July,  1721,  signed,  E.  Budgell,  Jacob  Tomon. 

Bought  by  Mr.  Rogers,  Gs. 

120  Assignment  of  Spectators,  10  Nov.,  1712,  signed,  Joseph  Addison,  Richard  Steele. 

Bought  by  Mr.  Rogers,  2?.  4s. 

121  Assignment  of  Spectators,  signed,  Joseph  Addison,  Richard  Steele,  Samuel  Buckle//. 

Bought  by  Mr.  Mathews,  21.  4s. 

122  Assignment  of  Spectators,  signed,  Joseph  Addison,  Thomas  Tickell.  Paid  per  Cash.  \l.  5s. 

123  Assignment  of  Virgil,  15  June,  1694,  signed,  JOHN  DUYDEN,  William  Congnri: 

Bought  by  Mr.  Pickering,  31.  15s. 

124  Agreement  for  the  Sale  of  "  Tlie  Paradise  Lost "  to  Samuel  Symonds,  27  April,  1667,  signed, 

JOHN  MILTON.  Bought  by  Mr.  Pickering,  451.  3s. 

It  was  after  the  possession  of  the  last  two  papers  by  Mr.  Pickering,  that  they 
became  the  property  of  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  who  we  presume  was  the  person 
alluded  to  by  Mr.  Pickering  as  having  paid  one  hundred  guineas  for  the  Milton 
Document  alone.  On  the  decease  of  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  the  two  Documents 
were  sold  by  Mr.  Christie,  June  1836,  with  the  Remaining  Part  of  his  Collection  of 
Modern  Drawings,  catalogued  : — 

444  Dryden's  Assignment  of  his  Virgil  to  Tonson,  an.  1694 — the  original  deed  on  parchment,  with 

his  seal  and  signature,  and  the  signature  of  Congreve  as  witness. 

445  The  Original  Assignment,  on  paper,  made  by  Milton  of  his  Paradise  Lost,  to  Samuel  Symons, 

April  27,  1667,  with  the  signature  and  seal  of  the  poet. 

The  one  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Henry  Rogers,  the  brother  of  Samuel  Rogers,  the 
Poet ;  the  other  by  Mr.  Glyn,  a  Bookseller  and  Dealer  in  Autograph  Letters.  In  the 
late  Mr.  Dawson  Turner's  copy  of  the  Sale  Catalogues  of  the  Collections  of  Sir  Thomas 
Lawrence,  now  in  our  possession,  occurs  the  subjoined  note  in  reference  to  the  two 
Documents : — 

"  Both  these  were  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Fra.  Mackie,1  who,  in  July  1825,  oifered  them  to  me 
(see  my  correspondence).  He  then  stated,  that  Mr.  Septimus  Prowett,  who  afterwards  bought 
Milton's  Assignment,  had  offered  him  £30  for  it.  I  declined  the  purchase  ;  and  on  Prowett's  failure, 
which  happened  soon  after,  I  suppose  it  fell  into  Sir  T.  Lawrence's  hands.  After  his  sale,  though 
bought  by  Glyn,  it  became  the  property  of  Mr.  Meigh ;  on  the  sale  of  whose  books  and  autographs 
by  Evans  in  Feb.  1831,  it  was  bought  by  Pickering  for  50Z.  8s.,  and  by  him  sold  to  Mr.  Rogers,  in 
whose  collection  it  was  in  Nov.  1831.  D.  T." 


1  If  Mr.  Mackie  was  the  tailor  in  whose  house 
the  Manuscripts  were  left,  it  is  very  evident 
that  he  did  not  sell  them  to  Mr.  Prowett  with- 


out having  previously  tried  elsewhere.  We 
believe  that  the  late  Mr.  Murray  of  Bond-street 
offered  the  same  sum  for  them  as  Mr.  Prowett. 


HERE  OUR  "RAMBLINGS"  ARE  BROUGHT  TO  A  CONCLUSION. 

November  1860. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    NOTICES 


OF 


EMINENT    PERSONS 


WHO    HAVE    RECEIVED 


HONOURS    FROM    THE    SOVEREIGNS    OF    ENGLAND 


FOR    THEIR    ATTAINMENTS 


IN 


LITERATURE,    SCIENCE,    AND    ART, 


DURING   THE    PERIOD    l66O    TO     1 86 1. 


26 


|T  has  been  often  said,  and  we  believe  with  perfect 
truth,  that  the  history  of  an  individual,  in  however 
humble  a  position  his  lot  may  have  been  cast,  would 
present  points  of  interest  not  only  to  the  philanthro- 
pist and  philosopher,  but  to  the  most  cursory  of 
ordinary  readers.  It  is  instructive  to  trace,  on  even  the  most  limited 
scale,  the  influence  of  circumstances  on  the  man  and  his  fortunes ; 
and  how  much  of  his  success  is  due  to  opportunity,  and  how  much  to 
the  talent  which  turns  it  to  account.  And  the  interest  of  the 
inquiry  is  of  course  enhanced  in  proportion  to  the  prominence 
achieved  by  the  individual  in  the  great  drama  of  life. 

With  the  view  of  affording  materials  for  such  an  investigation, 
and  of  shewing,  that,  since  the  time  of  Milton,  the  Crown,  in  the 
distribution  of  its  honours,  has  not  been  unmindful  of  the  claims  of 
Men  of  Genius,  we  have,  in  the  following  pages,  given  brief  Biogra- 
phical Notices  of  Men  who,  during  the  last  two  hundred  years,  have 
distinguished  themselves  in  Literature,  in  Science,  and  in  Art;  and 
who  have,  principally  as  a  reward  for  their  scientific  attainments, 
obtained  honorary  distinctions  from  the  Sovereigns  of  England.  This 
limitation  has  excluded  from  our  Notices  many  of  the  Legal,  Medical, 
Military,  and  Naval  Professions,  they  having  received  the  honour  of 
Knighthood  rather  on  account  of  their  official  position  than  for  any 
scientific  discovery  in  their  several  pursuits. 

We  have  endeavoured  to  give  the  dates  and  places  of  their 
birth,  and  of  the  successive  steps  by  which  they  rose  to  eminence; 
the  period  when  the  honours  were  conferred,  a  short  reference  to 
their  principal  Literary,  Artistic,  or  Scientific  achievements,  and  the 
date  when  each  closed  his  mortal  career. 

In  acquitting  ourselves  of  this  task,  we  claim  no  higher  merit 
than  industry  and  care  in  the  collection  of  our  materials,  and  in 
testing,  by  corroborative  evidence,  the  authenticity  of  the  sources 
from  which  they  are  derived. 


APPENDIX. 


BRIEF    BIOGRAPHICAL    NOTICES     OF    EMINENT     PERSONS 

WHO   HAVE   RECEIVED 

HONOUKS    FROM    THE    SOVEREIGNS    OF    ENGLAND    FOR    THEIR 
ATTAINMENTS    IN    LITERATURE,   SCIENCE,    AND   ART, 

DURING   THE   PERIOD  1660   TO    1861. 


SIR    WILLIAM    ADAMS. 

HIS  celebrated  Oculist  became  a  Member  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  in 
London,  in  1807,  and  devoted  himself  principally  to  diseases  of  the  eye.  In 
1812  he  published  "  Observations  on  Ectropium,  or  Eversion  of  the  Eye- 
lids," and  was  appointed  Oculist  to  the  Eye  Infirmary  at  Exeter.  He 
professed  to  have  discovered  a  new  method  of  treating  the  eye  in  ophthalmia, 
which  recommended  him  to  the  notice  of  Lord  Palmerston,  then  Secretary 
at  War,  who  created  a  new  place  for  him,  "  Ophthalmic  Surgeon  to  the 
Army,"  with  a  salary  of  £1,500  per  ann.  He  held  the  offices  of  Oculist 
Extraordinary  to  the  Prince  Regent  (who  conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of  knighthood  in  1814) 
and  Oculist  in  Ordinary  to  the  Dukes  of  Kent  and  Sussex.  By  royal  license  he  took  the  name  of 
Rawson  in  1825.  He  died  in  1827. 


LIEUT.-COL.    SIR    JAMES    EDWARD    ALEXANDER,   KNT.,  K.C.L.S. 

This  enterprising  military  officer,  who  is  the  son  of  the  late  Edward  Alexander,  Esq.,  of  Powis, 
Clackmannanshire,  a  descendant  of  the  Earls  of  Stirling,  has  served  in  almost  all  parts  of  the  globe. 
He  was  employed  on  an  expedition  of  discovery  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  and  for  his  services 
received  the  honour  of  knighthood  in  1838.  He  has  also  received  several  war-medals ;  and  in 
1858  was  promoted  to  the  lieutenant-colonelcy  of  the  14th  Foot,  which  regiment  he  commanded 
at  the  siege  and  capture  of  Sebastopol.  He  is  a  Knight  Commander  of  the  Lion  and  Sun,  and  of 
St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  and  has  received  the  order  of  the  Medjidie.  He  is  the  author  of  several 
volumes  of  Travels,  Translations  from  the  Persian,  "  Passages  in  the  Life  of  a  Soldier,"  etc.  In  this 
latter  work,  published  in  1857,  he  strongly  advocates  the  formation  of  rifle  corps  as  the  surest 
protection  against  invasion  ;  a  suggestion  which  he  has  lived  to  see  practically  carried  into  effect. 

. 27 


210 


APPENDIX. 


SIR   ARCHIBALD    ALISON,    BART.,    D.C.L.,   F.R.S.E. 

This  celebrated  Historian,  who  was  born  at  Kenley  in  Shropshire,  in  1792,  is  the  son  of  the 
Rev.  Archibald  Alison,  Prebendary  of  Sarum,  and  author  of  "  Essays  on  the  Nature  and  Principles 
of  Taste."  He  studied  at  Edinburgh  University,  and  was  admitted  an  Advocate  at  the  Scottish  bar 
in  1814.  In  1834  he  was  appointed  by  Sir  R.  Peel  Sheriff  of  Lanarkshire.  He  was  elected  Lord 
Rector  of  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen,  in  1845,  and  of  the  University  of  Glasgow  in  1851.  In  1852 
he  was  created  a  Baronet;  in  1853  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Civil  Law  was  conferred 
upon  him  at  Oxford  ;  and  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  have  elected  him  a  Fellow  of  their  body. 
The  work  upon  which  his  literary  fame  is  founded,  is  the  "  History  of  Europe  from  the  Commence- 
ment of  the  French  Revolution  in  1789,  to  the  Restoration  of  the  Bourbons  in  1815,"  which  has 
passed  through  many  editions,  and  been  translated  into  most  of  the  European  and  some  of  the 
Eastern  languages.  Of  this  work  Sir  Archibald  published  a  continuation  in  1852,  intitled  "  History 
of  Europe  from  the  Fall  of  Napoleon  to  the  Accession  of  Louis  Napoleon  in  1852  ;  and  in  1800  he 
published  an  edition  of  the  entire  work.  Sir  Archibald  is  also  the  author  of  several  other  works. 


SIR   WILLIAM    ALLAN,    KNT.,    R.A.,    P.R.S.A. 

This  successful  Painter  was  born  at  Edinburgh  in  1782.  He  was  educated  at  the  High  School ; 
but,  the  study  of  the  classics  not  being  congenial  to  his  taste,  he  was  taken  from  thence,  and  bound 
apprentice  to  a  Coach-builder,  who  employed  hitn  in  painting  Armorial  Bearings.  His  master 
discovering  his  skill  in  this  branch  of  art,  by  his  influence  obtained  his  admission  into  the  Trustees' 
Academy,  where  he  was  fellow  pupil  with  Wilkie.  When  his  term  expired,  he  proceeded  to  London, 
and  became  a  Student  of  the  Royal  Academy ;  and  in  1805  exhibited  his  first  picture,  "  Gipsy  Boy 
and  Ass,"  at  that  Institution  ;  but  this  not  attracting  public  attention,  he  determined  on  travelling 
abroad,  and  took  up  his  residence  at  St.  Petersburgh,  where  he  remained  nearly  ten  years,  making 
occasional  excursions  into  Turkey,  Tartary,  etc.,  for  the  purpose  of  gathering  materials  for  his  art. 
On  his  return  to  Scotland,  in  1814,  he  exhibited  his  "  Circassian  Captives,"  which,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  was  purchased  by  means  of  a  subscription  raised  by  a  hundred  gentlemen  at  ten 
guineas  each,  the  Earl  of  Wemyss  being  the  successful  competitor  for  the  prize.  In  consequence  of  an 
ophthalmic  disease,  he  was  compelled  for  a  year  or  two  to  discontinue  painting.  During  this  interval 
he  visited  Italy,  Asia  Minor,  and  Greece.  On  resuming  his  pencil,  his  "  Slave  Market  at  Constanti- 
nople," and  other  pictures  of  a  like  kind,  shewed  that  he  had  profited  by  his  travels.  In  1825  he 
was  elected  an  Associate  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  an  Academician  in  1835.  In  1838  he  was 
elected  President  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Scotland  ;  in  1841,  on  the  death  of  Wilkie,  he  was 
appointed  Her  Majesty's  Limner  for  Scotland ;  and  in  1842  received  the  honour  of  Knighthood. 
He  died  Feb.  23,  1850. 

SIR    RICHARD    ARKWRIGHT,    KNT. 

Born  at  Preston  in  Derbyshire  in  1732.  He  was  originally  a  barber,  which  occupation  he  quitted 
about  1760,  and  became  an  itinerant  dealer  in  hair.  In  1769  he  obtained  his  first  patent  for 
spinning  by  rollers.  This  machine  was  originally  worked  by  horse-power ;  but  in  1771  water-power 
was  substituted  at  Cromford,  which  has  been  styled  "  the  nursing-place  of  the  factory  opulence  and 
power  of  Great  Britain."  In  1775  he  obtained  a  second  patent  for  various  improvements  in  his 
first  invention,  from  which,  notwithstanding  the  numerous  infringements  of  his  patent,  he  amassed  a 
fortune  little  short  of  half  a  million  of  money,  which  was  more  than  doubled  by  his  son.  When 
upwards  of  fifty  years  of  age,  it  is  recorded  that  he  endeavoured  to  retrieve  the  deficiencies  of  his 
early  education  by  devoting  one  hour  a  day  to  grammar,  and  another  to  writing  and  orthography. 
He  was  knighted  in  1786,  as  High  Sheriff  of  Derbyshire,  on  presenting  an  address  of  congratulation 
to  George  III.  on  the  failure  of  the  attempt  made  on  his  life  by  Margaret  Nicholson.  Sir  Richard 
died  in  1792. 


APPENDIX. 


211 


SIR   WILLIAM    GEORGE    ARMSTRONG,    KNT.,    F.R.S.,  M.  INST.  C.  E. 

This  successful  civil  engineer  has  acquired  for  himself  a  world-wide  reputation  for  his  "  improve- 
ments in  ordnance,"  which  he  patented  in  1857.  He  was  born  at  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  on  Nov.  26, 
1810.  Though  originally  intended  for  the  legal  profession,  he  shewed  so  decided  a  taste  for 
mathematical  studies  that  this  intention  was  relinquished,  and  he  entered  the  profession  of  a  civil 
engineer.  In  early  life  he  became  a  partner  in  the  Howick  Works,  near  his  native  town,  where 
he  brought  to  perfection  his  celebrated  gun,  which,  after  many  successful  experiments,  the  Govern- 
ment have  adopted,  and  have  employed  him  not  only  to  manufacture  a  large  number  at  his  own 
works,  but  have  given  him  the  superintendence  of  the  establishment  at  Woolwich,  under  the  title  of 
Engineer  to  the  War  Department  for  Rifled  Cannon.  The  long  range  of  his  gun,  extending  to  nearly 
six  miles,  and  its  unerring  accuracy  of  aim,  have  been  most  satisfactorily  tested  in  the  recent  Chinese 
war,  and  have  fully  justified  the  Government  in  their  preference  for  that  arm.  He  received  the 
honour  of  knighthood  for  his  invention,  in  1859.  He  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in 
1846,  and  is  a  Member  of  the  Council  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  of  London. 

REAR-ADMIRAL  SIR  GEORGE   BACK,   KNT.,  D.C.L.,   F.R.S. 

This  distinguished  Arctic  Navigator  was  born  at  Stockport  in  Cheshire,  November  6, 1796.  He 
entered  the  Navy  as  Midshipman  on  board  the  Arethusa  in  1808.  In  1818  he  was  selected  to 
accompany  Captains  Beechey  and  Buchan,  and  Lieut,  (afterwards  Sir  John)  Franklin  on  the  first 
modern  voyage  of  discovery  beyond  Spitzbergen.  In  1819  he  again  joined  Franklin  in  his  land 
expedition  from  Hudson's  Bay  to  the  Copper-Mine  River.  In  1821  he  obtained  his  lieutenancy ; 
and,  on  his  return  in  1825,  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Commander,  and  was  associated  with 
Captain  Franklin  in  his  attempt  to  discover  a  North- West  Passage  in  1825-7.  In  1833  he  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  an  expedition  in  search  of  Captain  Ross.  On  his  return  in  1835  he 
obtained  his  post  rank,  and  in  1836  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Terror,  in  which  he 
proceeded  on  another  Arctic  Expedition.  Of  this  voyage  he  has  given  a  most  interesting  account 
in  his  "  Narrative  of  an  Expedition  in  H.M.  Ship  Terror,  undertaken  with  a  view  to  Geographical 
Discovery  on  the  Arctic  Shores,  in  1836-7."  In  1837  he  received  the  Gold  Medal  of  the  Geographical 
Society ;  and  was  knighted  in  1838.  In  1847  he  was  elected  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  The 
University  of  Oxford  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  in  1854.  He  attained  the 
rank  of  Rear- Admiral  in  1857.  He  is  a  member  of  several  foreign  societies,  and  has  also  received 
the  gold  medal  of  the  Paris  Geographical  Society. 

SIR    GEORGE    BAKER,    BART.,    M.D.,    F.R.S.,    F.S.A. 

This  Physician  was  born  in  1722.  He  received  an  University  education,  and  graduated  in 
Medicine  in  1756.  He  commenced  practice  at  Stamford,  but  afterwards  removed  to  London,  where 
he  acquired  a  great  reputation,  and  was  appointed  Physician  in  Ordinary  to  King  George  III.  and 
Physician  to  the  Queen.  In  1776  he  was  created  a  baronet;  and  in  1797  was  elected  President  of 
the  College  of  Physicians.  He  was  also  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  and  Antiquarian  Societies.  He  stood 
so  high  in  the  literary  world  that  Gray  dedicated  to  him  his  "  Elegy  written  in  a  Country  Church- 
yard." He  is  the  Author  of  numerous  medical  tracts,  which  are  written  principally  in  chaste  and 
elegant  Latin.  He  died  June  15th,  1809. 

RIGHT    HON.    SIR    JOSEPH    BANKS,  BART.,   K.C.B.,    P.R.S.,   F.S.A.,  EDIN.,   M.I.R.A. 

This  eminent  Naturalist  was  born  in  Argyll-street,  Westminster,  on  Feb.  13,  1743;  but  a 
different  locality  as  well  as  other  dates  are  assigned  to  his  nativity.  At  nine  years  of  age  he  was 
sent  to  Harrow,  whence,  at  thirteen,  he  was  removed  to  Eton ;  and  at  eighteen  he  entered  as  a 


212 


APPENDIX. 


Gentleman  Commoner  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  His  love  of  Botany  shewed  itself  while  he  was  at 
Eton,  and  he  prosecuted  the  science  with  ardour  in  the  University,  where  he  applied  himself  to  the 
study  of  other  branches  of  Natural  History.  No  lectures  on  Botany  being  then  given  at  Oxford,  he 
obtained  permission  to  engage  a  lecturer,  whose  salary  was  to  be  defrayed  from  the  fees  of  the  students. 
He  left  Oxford  in  1763,  having  had  an  honorary  degree  conferred  upon  him.  In  1766  he  was  elected 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society ;  and  in  the  summer  of  that  year  sailed  to  Newfoundland  for  the 
purpose  of  collecting  plants.  He  accompanied  Captain  Cook  on  his  voyage  of  discovery  in  1768, 
having  been  appointed  Naturalist  to  the  expedition  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Solander.  On  Mr.  Banks' 
return,  in  1771,  he  was  admitted,  by  the  express  desire  of  His  Majesty,  to  a  private  interview.  In 
1772  he  made  a  voyage  to  Iceland,  where  he  purchased  a  large  collection  of  books,  which  he 
presented  to  the  British  Museum  in  the  following  year  ;  and  added  another  collection  to  it  in  1783. 
In  1778  Mr.  Banks  was  elected  President  of  the  Royal  Society,  an  honour  which  he  enjoyed  for 
forty-one  years.  He  was  created  a  baronet  in  1781.  In  1795  he  received  the  decoration  of  the  Order 
of  the  Bath,  and  in  1797  was  sworn  of  His  Majesty's  Privy  Council.  In  1802  he  was  chosen  a 
Member  of  the  National  Institute  of  France.  He  was,  in  1816,  admitted  an  Honorary  Member  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  and  was  also  a  member  of  most  of  the  learned  societies  in  his  own 
country,  Europe,  and  America.  He  is  the  author  of  some  papers  in  the  "  Philosophical  Transactions" 
and  "  Archseologia,"  and  of  an  "  Essay  on  the  Causes  of  Mildew."  Sir  Joseph  died  in  18'20. 


SIR   JOHN   BARROW,  BART.,   LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.L.S.,  P.R.G.S., 

Born  at  Dragleybeck,  near  Ulverstone  in  Lancashire,  in  1764.  He  was  educated  at  the  Town 
Bank  Grammar  School.  In  1792  he  accompanied  Lord  Macartney  on  his  Embassy  to  China,  of 
which  he  published  an  account  in  his  "  Travels  in  China."  He  was  appointed  by  Lord  Melville,  in 
1804,  second  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty,  an  office  which  he  held  for  forty  years,  with  the  exception 
of  the  short  period  the  Whigs  were  in  power  in  1806.  In  1805  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society.  In  1830  he  took  a  leading  part  in  the  formation  of  the  Geographical  Society,  of 
which,  some  years  after,  he  was  chosen  President.  He  was  also  a  Fellow  of  the  Linnaean  Society. 
He  was  created  a  baronet  in  1835.  In  1845  he  retired  from  the  Admiralty,  and  enjoyed  the  pension 
of  £1,000  per  ann.,  which  had  been  awarded  to  him  in  1806  for  his  public  services.  As  an  author, 
his  most  elaborate  work  was  published  in  1818,  under  the  title  of  "An  Historical  Account  of  Voyairrs 
into  the  Arctic  Regions."  He  was  a  contributor  to  the  "  Quarterly  Review"  and  "  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,"  and  author  of  several  Biographies  and  other  works.  He  died  Nov.  23,  1848. 


SIR    CHARLES    BARRY,  KNT.,  R.A.,  F.R.S., 

Architect  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  was  born  in  Westminster  in  May  1795.  His  education 
was  obtained  in  private  schools  :  first  at  Homerton  in  South  Lambeth,  and  afterwards  at  Aspley  in 
Bedfordshire.  On  his  return  to  London  he  determined  to  become  an  architect,  and  was  bound 
apprentice  to  Messrs.  Middleton  &  Bailey  of  Lambeth.  In  1817  he  went  to  Italy,  where  the  beauty 
and  expressive  power  of  his  drawings  attracted  the  attention  of  a  wealthy  Englishman  about  to  visit 
Egypt,  who  offered  to  pay  all  his  expenses  if  he  would  accompany  him,  and  afford  him  the  benefit  of 
his  pencil.  This  offer  he  accepted ;  and  after  a  considerable  stay  there,  he  returned  to  Rome.  He 
then  travelled  in  Greece ;  and  on  his  return  to  England  he  became  the  successful  competitor  for 
several  public  buildings,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  the  Grammar  School  of  King  Edward  VI. 
at  Birmingham.  The  Travellers'  Club,  the  College  of  Surgeons,  and  the  Reform  Club,  were  among  his 
first  works  in  London  ;  and  in  1834  his  design  for  the  New  Palace  at  Westminster  was  selected  as 
the  best.  He  was  elected  an  Associate  of  the  Royal  Academy  in  1840,  and  an  Academician  in  1842  ; 
and  in  1849  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  was  also  a  Member  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  British 


APPENDIX. 


213 


Architects,  of  the  Pontifical  Academy  of  St.  Luke  at  Rome,  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  at 
St.  Petersburgh,  and  of  the  Royal  Academies  of  Fine  Arts  at  Berlin,  Stockholm,  and  Brussels.  He 
received  the  order  of  knighthood  in  1852.  He  died  May  12, 1860.  A  Memoir  is  announced  by  one 
of  his  sons. 

HENRY    EARTH,    M.D.,    C.B.,  D.C.L.,   F.R.G.S.,   F.R.A.S. 

This  celebrated  scholar,  traveller,  and  author,  was  born  at  Hamburg,  18th  April,  1821.  He 
commenced  his  studies  in  his  native  city,  and  afterwards  prosecuted  them  at  Berlin,  where  the 
natural  sciences,  and  the  history  of  antiquity  in  its  bearings  on  the  development  of  modern  nations, 
principally  engaged  his  attention.  He  graduated  at  Berlin  in  1844,  on  which  occasion  he  wrote  a 
remarkable  thesis  on  the  commerce  of  ancient  Corinth.  In  1845  he  visited  London  for  the  purpose 
of  studying  Arabic  ;  and  in  the  same  year  commenced  those  exploratory  expeditions  which  have  since 
so  greatly  increased  our  knowledge  of  African  geography.  In  1846  he  crossed  into  Arabia,  Syria,  and 
Asia  Minor  ;  and  in  1847  he  travelled  through  Greece.  He  returned  to  Berlin  in  1848,  where  he 
delivered  lectures  on  African  geography  and  the  history  of  the  Greek  colonies.  In  the  same  year 
he  published  his  "  Exploratory  Expedition  to  the  Coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  in  1845,  1846,  1847." 
In  1849  he  was  associated  with  Mr.  Richardson  in  the  expedition  to  Central  Africa,  fitted  out  by  the 
British  Government ;  and  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Richardson,  in  1851,  he  was  authorized  by  Her 
Majesty's  Government  to  carry  out  the  objects  of  the  expedition.  These  travels  occupied  four  years, 
during  which  he  travelled  twelve  thousand  miles.  The  narrative  of  his  journey  he  first  published  in 
Germany  in  1855,  under  the  title  of  "  Travels  and  Discoveries  in  North  and  Central  Africa,"  and 
afterwards  in  England  in  1857.  This  work,  which  obtained  for  him,  in  1858,  the  distinction  of  an 
honorary  civil  Companion  of  the  Bath,  is  one  of  the  most  important  contributions  to  modern  geogra- 
phical science ;  and  the  researches  it  records  have  placed  Dr.  Barth  among  the  most  illustrious 
of  the  geographical  explorers  of  our  time.  The  Royal  Geographical  Society  elected  him  a  Fellow, 
and  awarded  to  him  their  Victoria  medal ;  and  the  University  of  Oxford  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  in  1856.  He  is  also  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society. 

REAR-ADMIRAL    SIR   FRANCIS    BEAUFORT,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.,  F.R.A.S.,  ETC. 

This  distinguished  officer  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Beaufort,  Rector  of  Navan  and  Vicar  of  Collon,  in 
Ireland.  He  entered  the  navy  in  1787,  as  a  volunteer  on  board  the  Colossus,  and  became  mid- 
shipman in  1790.  In  1796  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant.  In  1800  he  was  engaged 
in  a  dashing  affair  with  a  Spanish  polacre  (San  Josef)  carrying  fourteen  brass  guns ;  and  for  his 
determined  bravery  was  rewarded  with  a  Commander's  commission.  He  obtained  his  post  rank  in 
1810,  and  flag  rank  in  1846.  For  several  subsequent  years  he  was  employed  by  the  Lords  of  the 
Admiralty  in  constructing  a  variety  of  charts,  of  which  may  be  enumerated,  one  of  the  Archipelago, 
three  of  the  Black  Sea  (including  the  coast  of  Asia),  and  seven  of  Karamania.  He  was  appointed 
hydrographer  to  the  Admiralty  in  1832  ;  and  was  nominated  commissioner,  in  1836,  for  inquiring 
into  the  laws  respecting  pilots ;  and  in  1845  for  inquiring  into  the  state  of  the  harbours,  etc.,  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  He  was  appointed  a  civil  K.C.B.  in  1848  ;  and  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society  in  1814 :  he  was  also  a  Fellow  of  the  Geological  and  Astronomical  Societies ;  and  a  Corre- 
sponding Member  of  the  Institute  of  France.  He  died  17th  Dec.  1857. 


SIR    WILLIAM    BEECHEY,   KNT.,  R.A. 

This  distinguished  portrait  painter  was  born  at  Burford,  in  Oxfordshire,  in  1753.  He  was 
originally  articled  to  a  conveyancer  ;  but  having  a  taste  for  painting,  he  obtained  admission  to  the 
Royal  Academy,  as  a  student,  in  1772;  of  which  he  was  elected  an  Associate  in  1793,  and  in  the 
same  year  was  appointed  Portrait  Painter  to  the  Queen.  His  great  picture  is  that  of  King  George 


214  APPENDIX. 


the  Third  at  a  Review,  attended  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Duke  of  York.  In  1793  he  was 
elected  an  Associate  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  an  Academician  in  1798,  in  which  year  he  received 
the  honour  of  knighthood.  Sir  William  died  in  1839. 

CAPT.    SIR    EDWARD   BELCHER,    K.C.B.,   F.R.S. 

This  scientific  naval  officer  and  hydrographer  was  born  in  1799.  He  entered  the  navy  as  a 
first-class  volunteer  in  1812,  and  was  soon  after  appointed  a  midshipman.  In  1829  he  was  raised 
to  the  rank  of  Commander.  In  1841  he  performed  a  series  of  brilliant  services  in  China,  for  which 
he  obtained  his  post  rank.  He  was  appointed  a  Companion  of  the  Bath  in  1841,  and  was  knighted 
in  1843.  He  commanded  the  expedition  in  search  of  Sir  John  Franklin  from  1852  to  1854  ;  of  which 
he  has  published  an  interesting  account  under  the  title  of  "  The  Last  of  the  Arctic  Voyages."  Sir 
Edward  is  also  the  author  of  several  works  of  professional  interest  and  great  practical  value. 

SIR    CHARLES    BELL,  K.H.,  M.D.,  F.R.S.  L.  &  E.,  F.L.S.,  F.G.S. 

This  celebrated  operative  surgeon  was  born  in  Edinburgh  in  1774.  He  was  educated  in  the 
High  School.  In  1804  he  removed  to  London,  and  in  1807  published  his  valuable  work  on  Operative 
Surgery.  In  1811  he  distinguished  himself  as  a  lecturer  on  anatomy  and  surgery  at  the  Hunters' 
Academy,  Windmill-street ;  and  in  1814  was  appointed  Surgeon  to  the  Middlesex  Hospital.  The 
honour  of  a  civil  knight  of  Hanover  was  conferred  upon  him  by  William  IV.  in  1831.  In  1821 
his  first  paper  on  the  "Nervous  System"  was  read  before  the  Royal  Society,  and  attracted  universal 
attention.  In  1824  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery  in  the  College  of  Surgeons, 
London  ;  and  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1826.  When  the  London  University  (now 
University  College)  was  established,  he  accepted  the  chair  of  Physiology ;  which,  however,  he  soon 
resigned,  and  pursued  his  private  professional  practice.  In  1836  the  Professorship  of  Surgery  in  the 
University  of  Edinburgh  being  offered  to  him,  he  accepted  it,  and  quitted  London.  He  was  author 
of  works  on  Anatomy  and  Surgical  Operations,  and  celebrated  for  his  discoveries  in  connexion  with 
the  nervous  system.  He  died  in  1842  ;  and  his  bust  has  been  placed  by  the  Council  in  the  grand 
staircase  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons. 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL    SIR    SAMUEL    BENTHAM,   KNT. 

This  naval  architect  was  the  youngest  brother  of  the  celebrated  political  economist,  Jeremy 
Bentham.  He  was  born  in  1756,  and  at  the  early  age  of  six  was  sent  to  Westminster,  where  he 
evinced  so  strong  a  predilection  for  ship-building  that  his  father  relinquished  all  idea  of  training  him 
for  a  liberal  profession,  and  bound  him  apprentice,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  to  the  Master  Shipwright 
of  Woolwich  Dockyard.  Young  Bentham,  perceiving  that  practical  manipulation  was  no  less  essential 
than  theoretical  knowledge,  worked  sedulously  at  the  dockside  every  day  until  breakfast  time, 
devoting  the  rest  of  the  day  to  scientific  acquirements.  From  Woolwich  he  was,  with  his  master, 
removed  to  Chatham ;  and  on  the  expiration  of  his  apprenticeship,  he  spent  some  time  in  the  other 
royal  dockyards,  and  at  the  Naval  College  at  Portsmouth.  At  the  recommendation  of  Lord  Howe, 
then  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  he  visited  the  several  ports  in  the  north  of  Europe,  for  the 
purpose  of  acquainting  himself  with  their  different  practices  in  the  art  of  naval  construction.  On 
arriving  at  St.  Petersburgh  he  was  introduced  by  our  ambassador,  Sir  J.  Harris,  to  Prince  Potemkin, 
who  induced  him  to  enter  the  Russian  service  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  and  he  was  soon 
after  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  flotilla  at  Cherson  ;  and  the  Empress  Catherine  presented 
him  with  a  gold-hilted  sword  and  the  cross  of  the  Order  of  St.  George,  for  the  naval  victories 
he  there  obtained  over  the  Turks  ;  and  which  honour  he  was,  by  command  of  King  George  III.,  in 
1789,  entitled  to  accept  and  wear  in  this  country.  After  his  return  to  England  he  patented,  in  1791, 


APPENDIX. 


215 


his  machinery  for-  planing  and  making  mouldings.  This  was  followed  by  a  variety  of  other  patents 
tending  materially  to  diminish  hand  labour.  In  1796,  at  the  desire  of  the  Government,  he  relinquished 
the  service  of  Russia,  with  its  honours  and  riches  in  expectancy,  and  was  appointed  to  a  new  office, 
created  for  him,  under  the  title  of  Inspector  General  of  Naval  Works.  The  block-machinery  erected 
at  Portsmouth,  for  which  Sir  I.  M.  Brunei  has  the  credit,  was  invented  by  Sir  Samuel ;  as  was  also 
the  steam-dredging  machine,  to  the  invention  of  which  a  claim  has  been  advanced  for  Mr.  Rennie. 
To  him  we  are  indebted  for  a  great  reform  in  the  dockyards,  not  only  by  improving  their  efficiency, 
but  by  curtailing  their  expenditure.  He  was  sent  out  to  Russia  to  build  ships  for  the  British  navy  : 
but  this  mission  was  rendered  abortive  by  the  opposition  of  the  Emperor  Alexander.  On  his  return  to 
England,  his  former  office  was  abolished,  and  he  became  associated  with  the  Navy  Board  under  the 
title  of  Civil  Architect  and  Engineer  of  the  Navy.  In  1812  he  submitted  to  the  Navy- Board  a  plan 
for  a  new  dockyard  at  Sheerness  ;  but  this,  like  many  other  of  his  plans,  met  with  a  successful 
opposition,  and  he  shortly  after  received  an  official  intimation  that  the  office  he  held  was  abolished ; 
and  he  retired  into  private  life  without  any  remuneration  for  his  long  and  valuable  services,  and 
was  compelled,  in  1814,  to  take  up  his  residence  in  France  for  the  economical  education  of  his 
children.  He  died  April  30,  1831. 

SIR    WILLIAM    BETHAM,    E1\T.,  F.S.A. 

This  celebrated  antiquary  was  born  at  Stradbroke,  in  Suffolk,  in  1779.  He  was  originally  bonnd 
apprentice  to  a  printer.  But  his  early  bias  for  antiquarian  pursuits,  which  he  inherited  from  his 
father,  made  him  quit  the  printing  office,  and  devote  his  talents  to  literature ;  his  first  employment 
being  the  revision  of  the  third  and  fourth  volumes  of  Camden's  "  Britannia."  In  1805  he  went  to 
Dublin  as  clerk  to  Sir  Charles  Fortescue,  Ulster  King  of  Arms  ;  and  in  a  few  years  became  his 
deputy,  and  in  1820  his  successor.  In  1812  he  was  appointed  Genealogist  of  the  Order  of  St.  Patrick, 
and  received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  He  was  also  appointed  Deputy  Keeper  of  Records  at 
Dublin  ;  an  appointment  which  placed  under  his  control  a  great  number  of  records,  of  which  he 
availed  himself  by  forming  an  immense  collection  of  historical  and  genealogical  references  extending 
to  several  hundred  volumes.  He  was  also  a  diligent  collector  of  old  manuscripts  connected  with 
Irish  history  and  antiquities,  which  was  purchased  by  the  Irish  Academy  in  1851 ;  of  which,  in 
1825,  he  had  been  elected  a  member,  and  subsequently  its  foreign  secretary ;  an  office  he  resigned 
in  1840  in  consequence  of  the  Council  refusing  admission  into  their  "  Transactions,"  of  some  of  his 
philological  speculations.  His  first  antiquarian  publication,  "  Irish  Antiquarian  Researches,  or 
Illustrations  of  Irish  History,"  contains  many  of  his  peculiar  views  on  the  connexion  of  the  Celtic 
races  with  several  of  the  most  remarkable  nations  of  antiquity,  and  which  are  developed  in  "  The 
Gael  and  Cimbri ;  or  an  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  and  History  of  the  Irish,  Scots,  Britons,  and  Gauls ; 
and  of  the  Caledonians,  Picts,  Welch,  Cornish,  and  Bretons,"  published  in  1834;  and  which  he 
subsequently,  in  1842,  more  fully  enlarged  upon  in  his  "  Etruria  Celtica,  Etruscan  Literature  and 
Antiquities  investigated  ;  or  the  Language  of  that  People  compared  and  identified  with  Iberno-Celtic, 
and  both  shewn  to  be  Phoenician."  In  1825  Sir  William  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries.  In  1834  he  published  a  very  able  and  learned  Treatise  on  "  The  Origin  and  History 
of  the  Constitution  of  England,  and  of  the  early  Parliaments  of  Ireland."  He  was  also  the  author  of 
several  other  works.  Sir  William  died  in  Dublin,  October  23, 1853. 


SIR    HENRY    ROWLEY    BISHOP,   Kur. 

This  celebrated  composer  was  born  in  London  in  1780.  He  received  his  musical  education 
under  Signer  Bianchi.  For  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  he  composed  almost  exclusively  for  Drury 
Lane  and  Covent  Garden  theatres,  commencing  with  "  The  Circassian  Bride"  in  1809,  and  is  said  to 
have  produced  upwards  of  seventy  operas,  ballets,  and  musical  entertainments.  In  1820  he  visited 


APPENDIX. 


Dublin,  and  was  honoured  with  the  freedom  of  the  city  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his  musical  genius 
He  was  knighted  in  1842.  He  was  one  of  the  first  directors  of  the  Philharmonic  Society,  and  Con- 
ductor of  the  Concerts  of  Ancient  Music,  and  Professor  of  Harmony  in  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Music.  In  1846  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Music  at  Oxford  University.  He  was  also  Reid 
Professor  of  Music  at  Edinburgh.  He  died  in  1855,  leaving  his  family  totally  unprovided  for. 

SIR   RICHARD    BLACKMORE,  KNT.,  M.D. 

This  Physician  was  born  at  Corsham  in  Wiltshire  about  1650.  After  receiving  the  rudiments 
of  his  education  at  a  country  school  he  was  removed  to  Westminster,  and  in  1668  was  entered  at 
St.  Edmund's  Hall,  Oxford,  where  he  took  his  A.M.  degree  in  1676.  He  remained  at  the  university 
thirteen  years ;  he  then  became  a  schoolmaster,  and  afterwards  travelled  on  the  Continent,  and  took 
an  M.D.  degree  at  Padua.  On  his  return  to  England  he  commenced  practice  in  London,  where  he 
soon  attained  eminence  in  his  profession,  and  was  elected  Fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians  in 
1687  ;  and  Censor  in  1716.  His  great  medical  skill  and  adherence  to  the  House  of  Hanover  obtained 
for  him  the  appointment  of  Physician  in  ordinary  to  William  III.  (by  whom  he  was  knighted  in 
1697)  ;  and  he  afterwards  held  the  same  office  under  Queen  Anne.  His  first  literary  production 
was  "  Prince  Arthur,"  an  epic  poem  in  ten  books  ;  which  was  adversely  criticised  by  the  poets  of  the 
day.  "  Creation  ;  or  a  Philosophical  Poem  demonstrating  the  Existence  and  Providence  of  a  God," 
which  was  more  fortunate,  went  through  four  editions.  He  was  the  author  of  many  other  poems 
and  medical  works.  He  died  in  1729. 

SIR  GILBERT  BLANE,  BAET.,  M.D.,  F.R.S.  L.  &  E. 

Born  at  Ayr  in  1749.  He  was  originally  intended  for  the  Church,  but  preferring  Physic,  he 
studied  under  Dr.  Cullen,  at  Edinburgh  (where  he  was  patronised  by  Dr.  Robertson  the  historian),  and 
finished  his  education  in  London.  Through  the  recommendation  of  Dr.  Cullen  he  was  introduced  to 
Lord  Rodney,  (then  in  command  of  the  West  India  Station,)  by  whose  influence,  on«account  of  his 
services,  he  was  appointed  Physician  to  the  Fleet,  in  1 779.  On  the  joint  application  to  the  Admiralty 
of  all  the  officers  on  the  West  India  Station,  he  was  rewarded  by  a  pension  from  the  Crown.  About 
1786  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  who  appointed  him,  in  1788,  to  deliver  the 
Croonian  Lecture.  He  was  also  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Societies  of  Edinburgh  and  Gottingen,  and  a 
member  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Sciences  of  St.  Petersburgh.  In  1 785  he  was  elected  Physician 
to  St.  Thomas's  Hospital ;  and  in  1795  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Navy  Medical  Board.  He 
was  a  Fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians,  created  a  Baronet  in  1812,  and  in  the  same  year 
appointed  Physician  in  ordinary  to  the  Prince  Regent.  In  1826  he  was  elected  a  Member  of  the 
Institute  of  France.  In  1830  he  was  appointed  First  Physician  to  King  William  IV.,  in  which 
year  he  founded  his  gold  medals.  He  was  the  author  of  "  Observations  on  the  Diseases  of  Seamen," 
and  numerous  Tracts  published  under  the  title  of  Select  Dissertations  on  several  subjects  in 
Medical  Science.  He  died  in  1834. 

SIR  WILLIAM   BLIZARD,   KNT.,   F.R.S.,   F.H.S., 

A  surgeon  of  great  eminence,  was  born  in  1748  at  Barnes  Elms,  Surrey.  He  was  apprenticed  to  a 
surgeon  and  apothecary  at  Mortlake.  On  the  expiration  of  his  apprenticeship,  during  which  he  had 
devoted  himself  to  self-improvement  in  his  profession  and  botany,  he  repaired  to  London,  and  became 
assistant  to  a  surgeon  there,  and  attended  hospital  practice  at  the  London  Hospital,  and  the  Lectures 
of  Wm.  and  John  Hunter  and  Mr.  Pott ;  at  whose  recommendation  he  was  elected  Surgeon  to  the 
Magdalen  Hospital.  He  was  admitted  a  Member  of  the  College  of  Surgeons  in  1777;  and 
in  1780  he  was  elected  Surgeon  to  the  London  Hospital.  About  this  time,  in  conjunction  with  Dr. 


APPENDIX.  217 


Maclaurin,  lie  gave  lectures  on  anatomy  in  Thames-street,  then  in  Mark  Lane,  and  afterwards  at  the 
London  Hospital.  In  1787  he  was  elected  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
procuring  for  the  Old  Corporation  the  new  Charter,  under  which  it  was  styled  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons  in  London.  In  1 796  he  was  elected  on  the  Court,  and  appointed  Professor  of  Anatomy  and 
Surgery  in  1808,  1809,  1810,  and  1815,  in  conjunction  with  Sir  Everard  Home  ;  and  Honorary  Pro- 
fessor in  1811  and  several  following  years,  in  conjunction  with  the  same  eminent  Surgeon ;  and  in 
1810  he  was  nominated  on  the  Court  of  Examiners.  He  was  Master  of  the  College  in  1814,  and 
President  in  1823  ;  and  delivered  the  Hunterian  Oration  in  1815, 1823,  and  1828.  When  the  Govern- 
ment presented  the  great  Hunterian  Collection  to  the  College,  Mr.  Blizard  also  presented  to  it  his 
collection  of  about  nine  hundred  preserved  specimens  in  Anatomy  and  Pathology.  In  1803  he 
received  the  honour  of  knighthood  on  presenting  an  address  from  the  College  to  George  III.  In 
1819  he  founded  the  Hunterian  Society.  He  was  also  the  founder  of  the  Samaritan  Society,  and 
was  one  of  the  founders  and  for  many  years  Vice-President  of  the  London  Institution ;  and  was 
one  of  the  first  Fellows  of  the  Horticultural  Society.  He  was  Consulting-Surgeon  to  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb,  the  Marine,  the  Clergy  Orphan,  and  the  London  Orphan  Asylums.  His  contributions  to 
medical  literature  are  few  and  not  very  important.  In  1834,  being  then  in  his  ninety-third  year, 
Mr.  Lawrence  successfully  removed  a  cataract  from  his  eyes ;  but  during  the  following  year  his 
strength  failed  him,  and  he  died  August  28,  1835,  having  attended  the  Court  of  Examiners  at  the 
College  on  the  preceding  Friday. 

SIR  HENRY  BLOUNT,  KNT., 

Born  in  December,  1602.  Educated  at  St.  Alban's  School,  whence  in  1616  he  removed  to  Trinity 
College,  Oxford,  and  was  afterwards  admitted  of  Gray's  Inn.  He  is  the  author  of  "  A  Voyage 
into  the  Levant,  being  a  Brief  Relation  of  a  Journey  lately  performed  from  England,  by  the 
way  of  Venice,  into  Dalmatia,  Sclavonia,  Bosnia,  Hungary,  Macedonia,  Thessaly,  Thrace,  Rhodes, 
and  Egypt  unto  Grand  Cairo,"  &c.  This  work  obtained  for  him  the  appellation  of  "  the  great 
traveller ;"  it  went  through  three  editions  from  1636  to  1638,  and  was  translated  into  French  and 
Dutch.  It  was  the  means  of  his  introduction  to  Charles  I.,  who  appointed  him  one  of  his  Gentlemen 
Pensioners,  and  conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of  knighthood  in  1638.  He  died  in  1682. 

SIR  ALEXANDER  BOSWELL,  BAET., 

A  literary  antiquary  of  no  small  erudition.  He  was  the  son  of  the  friend  and  biographer  of 
Dr.  Johnson,  and  was  born  in  1775.  In  1812  he  published  a  fac-simile  of  the  black  letter  original  of 
a  disputation  held  between  John  Knox  and  Quentin  Kennedy  at  May  bole  in  1562,  a  valuable 
contribution  to  our  stock  of  historical  literature.  This,  and  several  reprints  of  early  English  Poetry, 
proceeded  from  the  press  which  he  established  at  his  own  residence,  Auchenlech.  In  1821  he  was 
honoured  with  a  Baronetcy  of  Great  Britain.  He  inherited  all  his  father's  Tory  spirit,  and  was  the 
author  of  some  attacks  in  the  Beacon  and  Sentinel  newspapers  on  the  character  of  J.  Stuart,  Esq., 
which  led  to  a  duel  between  them,  on  March  26,  1822,  in  which  he  was  mortally  wounded,  and  died 
the  following  day. 

SIR  FRANCIS  BOURGEOIS,  KNT.,  R.A. 

This  Landscape  Painter,  born  in  London  in  1756,  was  originally  intended  for  the  army ;  but  his 
predilection  for  the  pencil  overcame  his  martial  ardour,  and  while  attending  the  riding  school  of  Mr. 
Angelo  he  took  more  delight  in  drawing  horses  in  their  various  attitudes  than  in  making  himself 
acquainted  with  their  tactical  evolutions.  Some  of  these  juvenile  essays  were  shewn  to  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  and  Gainsborough,  and,  having  elicited  their  warm  commendation,  he  determined  at  once 

28 


218  APPENDIX. 


to  apply  himself  to  the  cultivation  of  an  art  more  congenial  to  his  taste,  and  became  the  pupil  of 
Loutherbourg.  Before  the  age  of  twenty  he  had  acquired  no  mean  reputation  by  his  landscape  and 
sea  pieces.  In  1776  he  travelled  through  the  Low  Countries,  France  and  Italy,  and  studied  with 
indefatigable  zeal  the  works  of  the  celebrated  Masters  in  those  countries.  The  Prince  Primate, 
brother  to  the  unfortunate  Stanislaus  Augustus  King  of  Poland,  came  over  to  this  country,  and  was 
so  captivated  with  the  works  of  our  artist  that  he  endeavoured  to  persuade  him,  but  in  vain,  to  go  to 
Poland.  In  1791  he  was  appointed  painter  to  Stanislaus,  who  conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of 
knighthood  of  the  Order  of  Merit,  which  King  George  III  confirmed.  In  1792  he  was  elected  a 
Royal  Academician:  and  in  1794  was  appointed  Landscape  Painter  to  his  Majesty.  On  the  death 
of  Mr.  Noel  Desenfans,  he  became  possessed  of  that  interesting  collection  of  pictures  which  he 
bequeathed  to  Dulwich  College.  He  died  in  1811. 

SIR  JOHN  BOWRING,  Kur.,  LL.D. 

This  political  and  commercial  writer  and  celebrated  linguist  was  born  at  Exeter  in  1792,  and 
became  in  early  life  the  pupil  of  Jeremy  Bentham,  whose  doctrines  he  advocated  in  the  "  Westminster 
Review,"  of  which  he  was  editor.  The  University  of  Groningen  conferred  on  him  tlic  degree  of 
LL.D.  His  comprehensive  views  of  commerce  led  to  his  employment  under  various  Governments, 
commencing  with  that  of  Earl  Grey,  as  a  Commercial  Commissioner  to  other  countries.  In  that 
capacity  he  visited  France,  Italy,  the  states  of  the  Zollverein  and  the  Levant ;  and  drew  up  several 
Reports  which  were  published  by  the  Government  as  Blue  Books  from  1834  to  1840.  In  1849  he 
was  appointed  British  Consul  at  Hong  Kong ;  of  which  settlement,  in  1854,  he  was  promoted  to  the 
Governorship,  and  received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  In  1856  occurred  the  affair  of  the  . ! 
in  which  Sir  John  acted  so  prominent  a  part,  and  which  led  to  hostilities  terminating  in  the  capture 
of  Canton.  He  is  the  author  of  "  The  Kingdom  and  People  of  Siam,"  and  translations  of  poems, 
songs,  &c.,  from  the  Russian,  Icelandic,  Spanish,  and  nine  other  languages. 

SIR  DAVID  BREWSTER,  M.D.,  K.H.,  F.R.S.L.  AND  E.,  M.R.I.A.,  F.G.S.,  F.R.A.S., 

Was  born  at  Jedburgh  in  Scotland,  in  December  1781.  He  was  educated  for  the  Scottish  Church, 
of  which  he  waa  a  Licentiate.  In  1800  the  University  of  Edinburgh  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  M.A.,  and  in  1807  the  University  of  Aberdeen,  that  of  D.C.L.  In  1808  he 
undertook  the  editorship  of  the  Edinburgh  Encyclopaedia,  and  in  the  following  year  he  was  elected 
Fellow  of  the  Edinburgh  Royal  Society,  of  which  he  became  the  Secretary.  In  1815  he  received 
the  Copley  Medal  of  the  Royal  Society  for  his  discoveries  hi  Optical  Science,  and  was  soon 
after,  in  the  same  year,  elected  Fellow  of  that  body ;  from  whom,  in  1819,  he  also  received  the 
Rumford  gold  and  silver  medals  for  his  discoveries  on  the  polarization  of  light.  In  1831  he 
proposed  the  meeting  at  York,  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  British  Society  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science.  In  1831  he  was  appointed  K.H.,  and  in  1832  was  knighted  by  William  IV.  He 
is  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Institute  of  France  and  of  the  Royal  Academies  of  Russia,  Prussia, 
Sweden,  and  Denmark  ;  and  is  also  Principal  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  He  is  the  discoverer 
of  the  Kaleidoscope,  on  which  he  has  written  a  Treatise,  and  the  author  of  a  variety  of  Treatises  on 
the  Polarization  of  Light,  &c. 

SIR  BENJAMIN  COLLINS  BRODIE,  BART.,  F.R.C.S.,  M.R.C.S.E.,  P.R.S.,  D.C.L. 

This  distinguished  Surgeon  was  born  in  1783,  at  Winterslow  in  Wiltshire.  He  received  his 
professional  education  at  Mr.  Wilson's  celebrated  anatomical  school  in  Windmill  Street,  and  under 
Sir  Everard  Home  at  St.  George's  Hospital.  In  1805  he  was  admitted  a  Member  of  the  Royal 
College  of  Surgeons  of  Edinburgh,  and  of  London  in  1806.  After  having  delivered  Lectures  on 


APPENDIX.  219 


Surgery,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Wilson,  and  on  Anatomy,  he  was  in  1808  appointed  Assistant- 
Surgeon  of  St.  George's  Hospital,  and  full  Surgeon  in  1822.  In  1810  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of 
the  Royal  Society,  and  President  in  1858 ;  and  in  1811  received  their  Copley  Medal  for  his  Croonian 
Lecture  upon  the  Influence  of  the  Brain  on  the  Action  of  the  Heart,  and  on  the  Generation  of 
Animal  Heat,  which  has  been  published  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions.  In  1819  he  was 
appointed  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery  to  the  College  of  Surgeons,  and  again  in  1823,  and 
President  of  the  College  in  1844.  A  new  office  was  created  for  him  in  order  that  he  might  attend 
King  George  IV.  in  his  last  illness,  viz.,  Surgeon  to  the  Person,  and  he  visited  him  daily  till  his 
death.  In  1832,  on  the  death  of  Sir  Everard  Home,  he  was  appointed  Serjeant  Surgeon  to  William 
IV.,  an  appointment  continued  to  him  under  her  present  Majesty  ;  besides  which  he  holds  the  office 
of  first  Surgeon  in  Ordinary  to  Prince  Albert.  In  1834  he  was  created  a  Baronet.  In  1837  he 
delivered  the  Hunterian  Oration,  and  in  1843  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  College  of  Surgeons,  and 
member  of  the  Council.  In  1850  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  was  conferred  upon  him  at  Oxford. 
He  is  a  foreign  correspondent  of  the  National  Institute  of  Paris,  and  a  member  of  numerous  learned 
societies  in  Europe  and  America.  He  is  author  of  Lectures  on  Pathology  and  Surgery,  and  many 
other  works.  In  January  1861  he  submitted  to  an  operation  for  cataract,  which  was  successfully 
performed. 

SIR    THOMAS    BROWNE,    KNT.,    M.D. 

A  celebrated  English  Physician.  Born  in  London,  Oct.  19, 1605.  He  was  educated  at  Winchester; 
and  in  1623  he  entered  as  a  gentleman  commoner  at  Pembroke  College,  Oxford,  and  graduated 
Jan.  31,  1626-7.  Subsequently,  after  taking  his  Master's  degree,  he  commenced  practice  in  physic  in 
Oxfordshire  ;  but  he  soon  relinquished  his  practice  there,  and  travelled  in  France  and  Italy,  staying 
at  Montpelier  and  Padua,  the  celebrated  schools  of  physic ;  and  returning  home  through  Holland, 
he  obtained  a  Doctor's  degree  at  Leyden  about  1634.  In  1636  he  settled  at  Norwich,  where  his 
practice  became  very  extensive.  In  1637  he  was  incorporated  M.D.  at  Oxford.  He  was  elected 
honorary  Fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians  June  26,  1665  ;  and  was  knighted  by  Charles  II.  at 
Norwich  in  1671.  He  was  the  author  of  the  celebrated  Treatise,  "  Religio  Medici,"  surreptitiously 
published  in  1642,  and  which  by  1685  had  passed  through  eight  editions.  He  was  also  the 
author  of  a  "  Treatise  on  Vulgar  Errors,"  "  Pseudodoxia  Epidemica,"  and  "  Hydriotaphia,"  besides 
several  other  Treatises.  He  died  at  Norwich  Oct.  19,  1682. 

SIR  WILLIAM  BROWNE,  KNT.,  M.D. 

This  eminent  Physician  was  born  in  1692.  He  was  educated  at  St.  Peter's  College,  Cambridge, 
where  he  took  his  M.D.  degree.  On  quitting  the  University  he  settled  at  Lynn,  and  obtained  an 
extensive  practice.  About  1750  he  removed  to  London,  and  soon  afterwards  received  the  honour  of 
knighthood ;  and  subsequently  became  President  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  and  in  that 
capacity  rendered  himself  so  notorious  by  his  opposition  to  the  claims  of  the  Licentiates,  that  he  was 
personated  on  the  stage  by  Foote  in  a  piece  called  "The  Devil  upon  Two  Sticks."  So  im- 
perturbable was  the  doctor's  good  nature,  that,  having  witnessed  and  heartily  enjoyed  the  perform- 
ance, he  sent  to  Foote  his  own  muff,  in  order  that  the  apparent  identity  might  be  more  perfect.  He 
was  the  author  of  Translations  in  Imitation  of  several  Odes  of  Horace,  an  Harveian  Oration,  and  a 
great  number  of  lively  pieces  which  he  published  under  the  title  of  Opuscula  Varia. — He  has  shown 
his  love  for  this  kind  of  writing  by  directing  in  his  will  three  gold  medals,  of  the  value  of  five 
guineas  each,  to  be  given  annually  for  the  best  Greek  Ode  in  imitation  of  Sappho ;  the  best  Latin 
Ode  in  imitation  of  Horace ;  and  the  best  Greek  and  Latin  Epigrams,  after  the  model  of  the 
Anthologia  and  Martial,  to  be  contended  for  by  Undergraduates  of  the  University  of  Cambridge. 
He  also  founded  a  Scholarship  in  the  College  in  which  he  had  been  educated.  He  died 
10th  March,  1774. 

28  2 


220  APPENDIX. 


SIR   ISAMBARD   MARK  BRUNEL,  KNT.,  V.P.R.S. 

This  celebrated  Engineer  was  born  at  Hacqueville  in  Normandy  in  1769.  He  had  the  credit  of 
being  the  inventor  of  the  Block  Machinery  in  Plymouth  Dockyard ;  an  invention,  however,  which 
has  been  claimed  for  Sir  Samuel  Bentham  ;  but,  to  whomsoever  it  belongs,  it  has  not  been  turned  to 
any  profitable  account.  He  was  the  engineer  of  the  Thames  Tunnel.  The  Royal  Society  elected  him 
a  Fellow  of  their  body  in  1814,  and  a  Vice-President  in  1832.  He  was  a  Corresponding  Member  of 
the  Institute  of  France  ;  a  Vice-President  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  ;  and  a  Chevalier  of 
the  Legion  of  Honour.  He  was  knighted  in  1841.  Died  in  1849. 

SIR  SAMUEL  EGERTON  BRYDGES,  BART.,  F.S.A., 

An  eminent  genealogist,  biographer,  and  poet;  he  was  born  at  Wootton  in  Kent,  in  1762  ;  and 
was  descended  on  his  mother's  side  from  the  noble  family  of  Bridge  water.  In  1780  he  was  removed 
from  a  public  school  to  Queen's  College,  Cambridge;  and  in  1782  was  entered  of  the  Middle 
Temple ;  and  in  the  following  year  quitted  the  University,  of  which  he  had  become  heartily  tired, 
and  gave  himself  up  to  the  luxurious  enjoyment  of  his  favourite  poets,  Spenser,  Shakespeare,  and 
Milton.  In  1785  he  published  anonymously  several  sonnets  and  other  small  poems,  the  effusions  of 
his  muse  during  the  three  previous  years.  In  1787  he  was  called  to  the  bar;  but  he  made  no 
progress  in  a  profession  which  he  utterly  abhorred,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  antiquities, 
topography,  and  genealogy,  which  resulted  in  the  publication  of  a  periodical  work  on  antiquities  in 
conjunction  with  his  friend,  Mr.  Shaw,  the  historian  of  Staffordshire,  his  contemporary  at  Colk'ire. 
This  work  was  followed  by  "  Topographical  Miscellanies,"  of  which  he  had  the  sole  conduct.  At 
the  taunt  of  a  classical  friend  he  relinquished  the  crabbed  style  and  unscholarlike  language  of  the 
black  letter  books,  and  betook  himself  to  novel  writing.  The  copy  of  his  first  production,  "  Mary  de 
Clifford,"  was  written  and  supplied  to  the  printer  de  die  in  diem.  It  was  published  in  1792,  and  was 
eminently  successful.  The  same  success  attended  his  "Arthur  Fitzalbini,"  published  in  1798;  but 
his  next  novel,  "  Le  Forester,"  in  1802,  was  less  fortunate.  In  1800  he  published  the  first  volume  of 
a  new  edition  of  Phillips'  "Theatrum  Poetamm."  Besides  these  works,  he  published,  among  innny 
others,  an  edition  of  "  Collins'  Peerage,"  with  large  additions,  in  nine  vols.  8vo.  Under  his  editor- 
ship, assisted  by  the  poetical  antiquaries,  Park,  Haslewood,  and  others,  appeared  the  "  Censura 
Literaria,"  ten  vols.,  1805-9  ;  the  "  British  Bibliographer,"  four  vols.,  1810-14 ;  and  the  "  Restituta," 
four  vols.,  1814-16.  In  1812  he  was  elected  M.P.  for  Maidstone  ;  and  in  1815  was  created  a  baronet, 
a  distinction  well  deserved  by  his  laborious  investigation  of  the  honours  and  titles  of  others.  In 
1807  he  was  elected  a  Knight  Grand  Commander  of  the  Equestrian  Secular  and  Chapteral  Order  of 
St.  Joachim,  one  of  the  most  ancient  orders  of  knighthood  in  Europe.  In  his  beautiful  seat  of  Lee 
Priory,  in  Kent,  he  established  a  printing  press,  from  which  have  issued  many  curious  and 
interesting  works  for  private  circulation.  He  died  in  1837,  at  Campagne  Gros  Jean,  near  Geneva, 
where  he  had  lived  for  many  years  a  perfect  recluse,  and  a  most  unhappy  man  ;  the  latter  part  of  his 
life  having  been  embittered  by  the  decision  of  the  House  of  Lords  against  his  claim  to  the  Barony  of 
Chandos  of  Sudeley.  To  the  day  of  his  death  he  prided  himself  on  being  connected  by  blood  with 
more  families  of  noble  descent  than  any  person  in  England,  not  even  excepting  the  Royal  Family ; 
and  to  his  signature  he  always  added,  "  Per  legem  terras  Baron  Chandos  of  Sudeley." 

RIGHT   HON.    SIR   HENRY   LYTTON  EARLE  BULWER,   KNT.,   G.C.B. 

This  Diplomatist  and  Author  was  born  in  1805.  In  1827  he  entered  the  diplomatic  service, 
and  in  1830  was  returned  to  Parliament  as  representative  of  Wilton.  In  1843  he  was  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  at  Madrid,  and  for  his  firm  conduct  there  Her  Majesty  conferred  on  him  the  Grand 
Cross  of  the  Bath.  He  has  also  filled  several  diplomatic  offices,  and  is  at  present  our  Ambassador 


APPENDIX. 


2-21 


at  the  Ottoman  Porte.  Among  his  literary  productions  may  be  mentioned  "  France,  Social  and 
Literary,"  "The  Monarchy  of  the  Middle  Classes,"  &c. 

SIR  WILLIAM    BURNETT,  K.C.B.,  K.C.H.,  M.D.,  F.R.C.P.,  F.E.C.S.I.,  F.R.S., 

Was  educated  at  St.  Andrew's,  where  he  took  his  M.D.  degree.  He  was  admitted  an  Assistant 
Surgeon  in  the  Royal  Navy  in  1795;  Surgeon  in  1799;  and  Hospital  Surgeon  in  1804.  In  1810 
he  was  appointed  Physician  and  Inspector  of  Hospitals  to  the  Mediterranean  Fleet;  Medical 
Commissioner  of  the  Navy  in  1822 ;  and  Director  General  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Navy 
in  1832 ;  from  which  office  he  retired  in  1855,  with  a  pension  of  £1,000  per  ann.  In  1825  he  was 
admitted  a  Licentiate  of  the  College  of  Physicians,  and  a  Fellow  in  1836.  In  1833  he  was  elected  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  was  at  the  battles  of  St.  Vincent,  the  Nile,  Ferrol,  and  Trafalgar ; 
for  which  services  he  received  the  silver  "  Naval  Medal"  with  four  clasps  ;  and  was  appointed 
K.C.H.  in  1831,  and  K.C.B.  in  1850  ;  he  also  held  the  appointment  of  Physician  in  Ordinary  to 
William  IV.  He  was  the  author  of  several  works  :  "  On  Mediterranean  Fever,"  "  On  the  Fever  at 
Chatham,"  etc.,  and  of  various  papers  in  the  journals  of  the  day.  He  died  Feb.  16,  1861. 

SIR   AUGUSTUS   WALL    CALLCOTT,  KXT.,  R.A. 

This  eminent  Landscape  Painter  was  born  at  Kensington  in  1779.  He  was  originally  a 
chorister  in  Westminster  Abbey ;  but  cultivated  at  the  same  time  the  sister  art  of  painting,  to 
which,  influenced  by  the  success  of  a  portrait  he  had  painted  under  the  tuition  of  Hoffner  in  1799, 
he  ultimately  gave  the  preference.  He  however  soon  found  that  portrait  painting  was  not  his  forte, 
and  from  1803  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  landscape  painting,  in  which  branch  of  the  art  he  was 
for  many  years  a  large  contributor  to  the  Exhibitions  of  the  Royal  Academy.  He  was  elected  an 
Associate  of  the  Royal  Academy  in  1807,  and  a  Member  in  1810.  His  diploma  picture  was  a 
beautiful  painting,  intitled  "  Morning."  He  was  knighted  by  her  present  Majesty  in  1837  ;  and  on 
the  death  of  Mr.  Leguier,  was  appointed  Conservator  of  the  Royal  Pictures.  In  1840  he  exhibited 
a  picture  of  "  Milton  dictating  to  his  Daughters ;"  on  the  fallacy  of  the  subject  of  the  painting  we 
have  already  observed  in  p.  171,  and  its  execution  is  equally  defective.  He  died  Nov.  25,  1844. 


SIR  ANTHONY  CARLISLE,  KNT.,  F.R.S.,  F.S.A.,  F.L.S., 

A  Surgeon  of  great  reputation,  was  born  near  Durham  in  1768.  Having  finished  his  preliminary 
professional  education  at  York,  he  proceeded  to  London  and  attended  the  lectures  of  the  Hunters, 
Dr.  Baillie,  and  Mr.  Cruikshank  :  he  was  at  the  same  time  pupil  of  Mr.  Watson,  Surgeon  to  the 
Westminster  Hospital,  on  whose  death  in  1793  he  was  appointed  his  successor.  He  was  admitted  a 
Member  of  the  College  of  Surgeons  in  1792,  and  was  elected  on  the  court  in  1816.  He  was 
appointed  Professor  of  Surgery  and  Anatomy  in  1818,  and  delivered  the  Hunterian  Oration  in 
1820,  and  again  in  1826  ;  and  filled  the  office  of  President  in  1828.  He  was  appointed  Surgeon 
Extraordinary  to  the  Prince  Regent,  who  conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of  knighthood  in  1820, 
shortly  after  his  accession  to  the  throne.  In  1808  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Anatomy  to  the 
Royal  Academy — an  office  he  held  for  sixteen  years.  In  1804  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society.  To  the  Philosophical  Transactions  of  that  and  several  subsequent  years  he  contributed 
many  interesting  papers,  and  in  1804  delivered  the  Croonian  Lecture  on  "Muscular  Motion." 
Sir  Anthony  also  contributed  many  papers  on  various  subjects  to  the  medical  publications,  of  which 
the  most  original  was  one  on  Galvanic  Electricity,  showing  that  water  might  be  decomposed  by  the 
galvanic  battery.  In  1817  he  published  a  work  intitled — "  Essay  on  the  Disorders  of  Old  Age,  and 
the  Means  of  Prolonging  Human  Life,"  of  which  a  second  edition  was  published  in  the  following 
year.  Sir  Anthony  died  on  Nov.  2,  1840. 


222 


APPENDIX. 


EDWIN  CHADWICK,  C.B. 

This  social  economist  was  born  near  Manchester  in  1800.  He  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1830 ;  he 
was  one  of  the  earliest  advocates  of  the  repeal  of  taxes  on  knowledge,  on  which  he  wrote  an  article  in 
the  "  Westminster  Review"  in  1831 ;  and  entered  the  public  service  in  1832.  In  1828  he  published 
an  essay  in  the  "London  Review,"  on  the  administration  of  public  charity,  which  led  to  his  appoint- 
ment as  an  Assistant  Commissioner,  and  afterwards  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  Inquiry  into  the 
means  of  improving  the  administration  of  the  Poor  Laws.  His  recommendations  were  in  great 
measure  adopted,  and  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Poor-Law  Unions  in  England  and  Ireland, 
and  local  Boards  of  Health.  In  1834,  when  the  permanent  Poor-Law  Commission  was  established, 
he  was  appointed  Secretary  to  the  Board.  While  holding  this  office  he  was  associated  with  Dr. 
Arnold,  Dr.  Southwood  Smith,  and  Dr.  Kay  to  inquire  into  the  physical  causes  of  fever  in  London, 
and  how  they  might  be  removed  by  sanitary  measures.  This  inquiry  was  afterwards  extended  to 
the  whole  of  England.  In  1839  he  was  appointed  on  the  Constabulary  Force  Commission  ;  and  in 
1848  a  Commissioner  of  the  General  Board  of  Health ;  and  was  in  the  same  year  honoured  with  a 
Civil  Companionship  of  the  Bath.  On  the  reconstruction  of  the  Board  of  Health  in  1854  he  retired, 
with  a  pension  well  deserved  by  his  long  and  laborious  services  in  the  promotion  of  sanitary 
measures. 

SIR   WILLIAM    CHAMBERS,  KNT.,  R.A.,  F.R.S.,  F.S.A. 

This  architect,  descended  from  the  Scottish  family  of  Chalmers,  Barons  of  Tartas  in  France, 
was  born  at  Stockholm  about  1726.  He  received  his  education  at  a  school  at  Rippon  in  Yorkshire. 
He  acquired  his  knowledge  of  architecture  during  his  sojourn  in  Italy,  from  the  study  of  the 
works  of  Michael  Angelo  and  other  Italian  architects,  and,  during  a  residence  in  Paris,  of  the 
French  architects  Claude  Berrault,  etc.  Through  the  influence  of  Lord  Bute  he  was  appointed 
drawing  master  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  George  III.,  by  whom,  after  his  accession, 
he  was,  in  1765,  appointed  Royal  Architect.  In  this  year  he  published  an  account  of  his  improve- 
ments in  the  gardens  at  Kew,  principally  in  the  Chinese  style ;  of  which  his  finished  drawings, 
presented  to  the  King  of  Sweden  in  1771,  obtained  for  him  the  order  of  the  Polar  Star.  The 
title  of  knighthood  which  he  thus  acquired,  he  received  the  royal  permission  to  adopt  in  England. 
In  1768  he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  Royal  Academy,  of  which  he  afterwards  became  the 
treasurer.  He  was  also  elected  Fellow  of  the  Royal  and  Antiquarian  Societies,  Member  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Arts  at  Florence,  and  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Architecture  at  Paris.  The 
works  on  which  his  celebrity  as  an  architect  is  founded,  are  Somerset  House,  and  the  staircases  of 
Lords  Bessborough  and  Gower,  and  of  the  Royal  and  Antiquarian  Societies.  He  died  on 
March  8,  1796. 


SIR    FRANCIS    CHANTREY,  K.H.,  R.A.,  D.C.L.,  M.A.CAMB.,  F.R.S.L.  AND  E., 

F.S.A.,  M.G.S.,  M.R.S.L. 

This  eminent  sculptor  was  born  at  Norton,  near  Sheffield,  in  1781.  He  was  bound  apprentice 
to  a  carver  at  Sheffield,  whose  service  he  left  before  the  end  of  his  term,  making  compensation  for 
the  period  he  had  to  serve ;  and  repaired  to  London,  where  he  attended  the  school  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  but  was  not  regularly  admitted  as  a  student.  At  one  period  of  his  early  life  he  was 
employed  as  a  journeyman  carver,  at  a  guinea  a  week,  by  Samuel  Rogers,  Esq.,  the  poet,  who  used 
to  show  a  sideboard  carved  by  him,  placed  in  that  room  where  he-  was  afterwards  received  as  an 
honoured  guest,  and  one  of-  the  greatest  sculptors  of  his  day.  Finding  that  carving  afforded  little 
scope  for  his  love  of  art,  he  tried  his  fortune  as  a  painter  in  crayons ;  and  issued  an  advertisement  at 


APPENDIX. 


2-23 


Sheffield,  in  180'2,  proposing  to  take  portraits  ;  and  in  1804  announced  that  he  had  commenced  taking 
"models  from  the  life."  In  the  same  year  he  sent  for  exhibition,  in  the  Royal  Academy,  a  "  Portrait 
of  D.  Wale,  Esq. ;"  and  in  1805  he  exhibited  three  busts.  In  1811  ho  fairly  commenced  his  career  of 
fame  and  fortune,  having  in  that  year's  exhibition  sis  busts  ;  of  which  that  of  J.  B.  Smith,  Esq.,  was 
one  of  the  best.  He  was  chosen  an  Associate  in  1816,  and  an  Academician  in  1818 ;  in  which  year 
he  was  also  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1817  he  produced  the  exquisite  group,  "  The 
Sleeping  Children,"  for  a  monument  to  be  erected  in  Lichfleld  cathedral.  He  was  knighted  in  1835  ; 
and  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  have  conferred  upon  him  their  honorary  degrees  of 
D.C.L.  and  M.A.  respectively.  He  died  Nov.  25,  1841. 

SIR    JAMES    CLARK,  BAET.,  M.A.,  M.D.,  L.R.C.P.  LOND.,  F.R.S., 

Was  born  at  Cullen  in  Banffshire  in  1788.  He  was  educated  at  a  school  in  Fordyce,  whence  he 
went  to  Aberdeen  and  took  his  M.A.  degree.  He  then  proceeded  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  took 
his  M.D.  degree.  Having  gone  abroad,  he  settled  at  Rome,  and  practised  as  a  physician  for 
several  years.  He  visited  the  principal  medical  schools  of  Italy,  France,  and  Germany,  collecting 
materials  for  a  work  which  he  published  in  1820,  intitled — "  Medical  Notes  on  the  Climate,  Diseases, 
Hospitals,  and  Medical  Schools  in  France,  Italy,  and  Switzerland."  He  returned  to  London  in  1826, 
and  was  admitted  a  Licentiate  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  in  1826 ;  and  in  the  same 
year  he  was  appointed  Physician  to  St.  George's  Infirmary.  In  1829  he  published  his  work,  "  On 
the  Sanative  Influence  of  Climate."  In  1832  he  was  elected  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  in 
1835  was  appointed  Physician  to  the  Duchess  of  Kent  and  the  Princess  Victoria ;  upon  whose 
accession  he  was  appointed  Physician  in  Ordinary  to  Her  Majesty,  and  subsequently  to  H.R.H. 
Prince  Albert.  In  1838  he  was  created  a  baronet.  His  "  Treatise  on  Pulmonary  Consumption  and 
Scrofulous  Diseases  "  has  obtained  for  him  a  considerable  reputation  for  his  new  views  of  treating 
those  complaints. 


SIR   CHARLES    MANSFIELD    CLARKE,  BAET.,  D.C.L.,  M.D.,  F.R.S. 

This  distinguished  ornament  of  the  medical  profession  was  born  in  London  in  1782.  He  was 
educated  at  St.  Paul's  School ;  but  at  an  early  age  turning  his  attention  to  medical  pursuits,  he  left 
that  school  and  attended  St.  George's  Hospital.  Having  finished  his  preliminary  studies  in  anatomy 
and  midwifery,  he  was  admitted  a  Member  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  in  1807,  and  spent  the 
first  two  years  of  his  professional  life  as  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Hertfordshire  Militia,  and  was 
subsequently  appointed  Surgeon  in  the  3rd  Foot  Guards.  His  military  career  was,  however,  at 
the  advice  of  his  brother,  soon  relinquished,  and  he  devoted  his  whole  attention  to  the  diseases  of 
women  and  children,  and  more  particularly  to  the  practice  of  midwifery,  on  which  subjects,  in 
connection  with  his  brother,  he  commenced  a  course  of  lectures  in  1804,  and  continued  them  to  the 
year  1821,  when  he  also  resigned  the  office  of  Surgeon  to  Queen  Charlotte's  Lying-in  Hospital,  an 
appointment  he  had  held  for  many  years.  In  1825  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society. 
Having  obtained  the  degree  of  M.D.  from  Lambeth  in  1827,  he  became  a  Licentiate  of  the  College 
of  Physicians,  and  on  the  accession  of  King  William  IV  was  appointed  Physician  to  Queen  Adelaide. 
In  1831  he  was  created  a  Baronet,  and  in  1836  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Physicians.  The  honorary  degree  of  M.A.  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  University  of  Cambridge 
in  1842,  and  that  of  D.C.L.  by  Oxford  in  1845.  He  was  the  author  of  "  Observations  on  the  Diseases 
of  Women,"  in  two  parts,  published  respectively  in  1814  and  1821.  Having  given  up  practice,  he 
spent  the  latter  years  of  his  life  in  the  country,  where  he  died  Sept.  7th,  1857  ;  to  the  deep  regret, 
not  less  of  his  numerous  friends,  than  of  the  medical  profession,  of  which  he  was  a  most  talented  and 
successful  member. 


- 


224  APPENDIX. 


HENRY  COLE,  C.B., 

The  indefatigable  promoter  of  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851 ;  he  was  born  at  Bath  in  1808.  He 
entered  the  public  service  in  1822,  and  became  an  Assistant  Keeper  of  the  Public  Records.  His 
pamphlets  on  Record  Reform  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  General  Record  Office  and  the  present 
system.  He  obtained  one  of  the  four  prizes  of  £100  offered  by  the  Treasury  for  suggestions  for 
carrying  out  Mr.  Rowland  Hill's  penny  postage  plan.  He  originated  the  series  of  "  Art  Manufac- 
tures," and  the  exhibitions  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  of  which  the  first  was  intended  to  have  been  held  in 
1851 ;  but  the  scheme  being  adopted  by  Prince  Albert,  it  was  expanded  into  the  Great  International 
Exhibition  of  that  year.  He  was  one  of  the  executive  Committee  of  Management ;  and  at  the  termi- 
nation of  his  labours  was  rewarded  with  a  Companionship  of  the  Bath,  and  a  handsome  sum  of 
money.  He  was  invited  to  undertake  the  superintendence  and  reform  of  the  Schools  of  Design, 
•which  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Government  Department  of  Science  and  Art,  of  which  he  was 
appointed  Senior  Secretary,  and  afterwards  Inspector  General.  He  held  the  office  of  Brit'sh 
Commissioner  for  the  Universal  Exhibition  at  Paris  in  1855.  He  has  successfully  organized  the 
South  Kensington  Museum,  of  which  he  is  Superintendent,  as  well  as  Secretary  of  the  Science  and 
Art  Department  under  the  Committee  of  Council  of  Education.  Whilst  he  was  Assistant  Keeper  of 
the  Public  Records,  he  published  "Henry  the  Eighth's  Scheme  of  Bishoprics,"  and  "Miscellaneous 
Records  of  the  Exchequer."  He  is  also  the  author  of  several  Guide  Books  to  the  National  Gallery,etc. 

SIR   ASTLET    PASTON    COOPER,  BART.,  K.G.C.H.,  V.P.R.S,  D.C.L. 

This  eminent  surgeon  was  born  at  Brooke,  in  Norfolk,  on  the  2ord  of  August,  1768.  His  choice 
of  a  profession  was  determined  by  an  accident  which  happened  to  a  boy  in  his  presence,  who  had 
fallen  down  in  front  of  a  cart,  the  wheel  of  which  passed  over  his  thigh  and  lacerated  the  femoral 
artery.  There  being  no  surgeon  near,  young  Cooper  bound  his  handkerchief  sufficiently  tight  over 
the  upper  part  of  the  thigh  to  stop  the  circulation  in  the  artery  until  one  arrived.  In  1784  he 
was  placed  under  Mr.  Cline,  surgeon  to  St.  Thomas's  Hospital ;  to  the  influence  of  whose  example 
Sir  Astley  attributed  much  of  his  success  in  after  life.  In  1787  he  was  made  Demonstrator  of 
Anatomy  at  St.  Thomas's  ;  and  in  1791  he  was  admitted  a  Member  of  the  Corporation  of  Surgeons, 
and  in  the  same  year  was  associated  with  Mr.  Cline  in  his  lectures  on  Anatomy  and  Surgery. 
In  1793  he  lectured  on  Surgery  alone,  which  was  the  first  course  on  that  subject  independent 
of  Anatomy.  In  1794,  and  again  in  1795,  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Anatomy  to  the  Corporation 
of  Surgeons,  and  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery  to  the  College  in  1811  in  conjunction  with 
Mr.  Abernethy.  In  1798  he  published  his  first  literary  production,  intitled  "Medical  Records  and 
Researches."  His  income  up  to  this  time  does  not  appear  to  have  kept  pace  with  his  reputation  ;  for, 
as  he  tells  us,  it  was  in  the  first  year  only  bl.  5s. ;  the  second,  261. ;  the  third,  64?. ;  the  fourth,  961. ; 
the  fifth,  100Z. ;  the  sixth,  200Z. ;  the  seventh,  400Z. ;  and  the  eighth,  610Z.  In  1800  he  was  appointed 
to  succeed  his  uncle  as  Surgeon  at  Guy's.  In  this  and  the  following  year  he  read  two  papers  before 
the  Royal  Society,  on  the  effects  produced  by  the  destruction  of  the  membrana  tympani,  with  an 
account  of  an  operation  for  the  removal  of  a  particular  species  of  deafness.  For  these  papers,  the 
Royal  Society  awarded  to  him  the  Copley  medal  for  1802,  and  in  1805  elected  him  a  Fellow  of 
their  body,  and  a  Vice-President  in  1830.  In  the  same  year  he  took  an  active  part  in  the 
formation  of  the  Medico-Chirurgical  Society.  In  1804  he  published  the  first  part  of  his  great  work 
on  Hernia,  and  the  second  part  in  1807.  This  work,  by  which  he  lost  WOOL,  on  account  of  the 
expensive  manner  in  which  it  was  got  up,  added  greatly  to  his  increasing  reputation  ;  and  in  a  few 
years  after  (1813)  his  income  attained  the  amount  of  21,OOOZ.,  probably  the  largest  ever  received 
by  a  medical  practitioner.  In  1813  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Comparative  Anatomy  to  the 
College  of  Surgeons,  and  again  in  1815  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Abernethy.  In  1820  he 
was  called  in  to  remove  a  steatomatous  tumour  from  the  head  of  King  George  IV.,  by  whom, 


APPENDIX. 


225 


on  August  31,  1821,  lie  was  created  a  baronet.  In  1822  he  was  elected  one  of  the  Court  of 
Examiners  of  the  College  of  Surgeons  ;  and  in  the  same  year  he  brought  out  his  work  on 
"Dislocations  and  Fractures."  In  1827  he  was  elected  President  of  the  College,  which  honour 
was  again  conferred  upon  him  in  1836.  In  1827,  in  consequence  of  ill  health,  he  relinquished 
his  practice  for  a  time,  and  resigned  his  lectureship  at  St.  Thomas's.  In  1828  he  resumed 
his  practice,  and  was  appointed  Serjeant-  Surgeon  to  the  King.  In  1830  he  was  elected  a  Vice- 
President  of  the  Royal  Society  ;  and  in  1832,  a  Member  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  France  ;  and 
shortly  after,  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences.  On  the  installation  of 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  at  Oxford,  in  1834,  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Civil  Law 
from  that  University.  In  1836  he  was  appointed  K.G.C.H..  Civil.  In  1837  he  visited  Edinburgh, 
where  he  received  the  freedom  of  the  city,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  was  honoured  by  a 
public  dinner  given  by  the  College  of  Surgeons.  In  1840  he  was  seized  with  attacks  of  giddiness, 
which,  increasing,  terminated  his  life  on  February  12,  1841.  He  was  interred,  by  his  own  desire, 
under  the  chapel  of  Guy's  Hospital  ;  and  a  colossal  statue,  by  Bailey,  has  been  erected  to  his  memory 
in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  He  has  founded  a  prize  of  £300  to  be  adjudged  every  third  year 
by  the  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  Guy's  Hospital  to  the  writer  of  the  best  original  Essay  on  any 
given  subject  in  Anatomy,  Physiology,  or  Surgery. 

SIR    PHILIP    CRAMPTON,  Km.,  M.D.,  F.R.C.S.I.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  M.R.I.A. 

This  successful  physician  was  born  in  1779.  He  took  his  degree  of  M.D.  at  Glasgow  in  1800, 
and  was  admitted  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  Ireland,  and  was  thrice  its  President. 
In  1812  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  As  a  man  of  science  he  paid  particular 
attention  to  zoology  and  comparative  anatomy,  regarding  them  as  subservient  to  the  one  great  end, 
—  the  preservation  of  human  life.  He  was  created  a  baronet  in  1839.  He  was  appointed  Surgeon- 
General  to  the  Forces  in  Ireland,  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Stewart  ;  and 
subsequently  Surgeon  in  Ordinary  to  her  Majesty.  He  was  Consultant  to  the  majority  of  the 
Dublin  hospitals  ;  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  foundation  of  the  Royal  Zoological  Society  of 
Ireland,  for  which,  he  obtained  a  grant  of  the  ground  in  Phoenix  Park.  He  was  the  author  of  an 
"  Essay  on  the  Entropion,  or  Inversion  of  the  Eyelids,"  published  in  1805.  He  died  June  10,  1858. 


SIR    WILLIAM    CUBITT,  KNT.,  F.R.S.,  M.R.I.A.,  F.R.A.S. 

This  celebrated  engineer  was  born  in  Norfolk  in  1785.  He  was  apprenticed  to  a  joiner,  and 
obtained  celebrity  as  a  maker  of  agricultural  implements.  In  1807  he  invented  the  self-regulating 
windmill  sails  ;  and  his  engagements  rapidly  increasing,  in  1826  he  removed  to  London.  There 
is  scarcely  a  port,  dock,  or  canal,  in  the  construction  of  which  he  was  not  employed  or  consulted  as 
engineer.  The  South-Eastern  and  the  Great  Northern  railways  were  constructed  under  his  superin- 
tendence ;  and  one  of  his  last  public  works  was  the  construction  of  the  Crystal  Palace  in  Hyde  Park, 
for  which  he  was  knighted  in  1851.  He  was  elected  F.R.S.  in  1830. 

SIR  JOHN  GRAHAM  DALTELL,  BAKT.,  V.P.S.A.S. 

An  accomplished  Scottish  antiquarian,  was  the  second  son  of  Sir  Robert  Dalyell,  Bart.,  and  was 
born  in  1777.  He  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of  Advocates  in  1797.  His  profes- 
sion of  a  barrister  he  soon  relinquished  for  that  of  an  historian  and  antiquarian,  and  in  1798 
he  published  his  first  work,  "  Fragments  of  Scottish  History,"  which  was  rapidly  followed  by 
several  others,  illustrative  of  the  antiquities  and  history  of  Scotland.  He  was  President  of  the 
Society  for  Promoting  useful  arts  in  Scotland,  and  Vice-President  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of 
Scotland.  He  was  knighted  by  patent  in  1836,  and  succeeded  to  the  family  title  on  the  death  of  his 
elder  brother.  He  died  on  June  7th,  1851. 


226  APPENDIX. 


SIR  WILLIAM  DAVENANT,  KNT. 

This  popular  writer  was  born  at  Oxford,  in  Feb.  1605.  He  was  entered  at  Lincoln  College, 
but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  took  a  degree.  On  the  death  of  Ben  Jonson,  in  1637,  he  was 
appointed  poet  laureate,  and  was  knighted  by  Charles  I.  while  he  was  serving  with  the  Royalist  f'onvs 
at  the  siege  of  Gloucester,  as  Lieutenant-General  of  the  Ordnance.  In  1651  he  was  taken  prisoner 
at  sea,  and  only  escaped  being  tried  for  his  life  by  the  intercession  amdng  others  of  Milton  and 
Whitelocke.  He  wrote  several  dramatic  pieces,  masques,  and  operas,  which  were  performed  at  a 
theatre  he  had  opened  in  the  Tennis-court,  in  Little  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  An  epic  poem,  called  Gon- 
dibert,  which  he  dedicated  to  Hobbes,  he  did  not  live  to  complete.  The  only  work1  for  which  he  is 
now  remembered,  is  an  alteration  of  the  "Tempest,"  in  which  he  was  assisted  by  Dryden  ;  of  which 
Sonthey  remarks,  "  that  it  is  marvellous  that  two  men  of  such  great  and  indubitable  talent  should 
have  combined  to  debase  and  vulgarise,  and  pollute  such  a  poem  ;  but,  to  the  scandal  of  the  English 
stage,  it  is  their  Tempest  and  not  Shakespeare's  which  is  to  this  day  represented."  He  died  on 
April  7th,  1668,  and  was  buried  in  "Westminster  Abbey. 

SIR  JOHN  FRANCIS  DAVIS,  BAET.,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S., 

Was  born  in  London  in  1795.  In  1816  he  accompanied  our  ambassador,  Lord  Amherst,  to  China, 
and  subsequently  succeeded  Lord  Napier,  as  Chief  Superintendent  at  Canton.  On  his  return 
to  England,  after  a  residence  of  more  than  twenty  years  in  China,  he  published,  in  1836,  "  The  Chinese  ; 
a  General  Description  of  China  and  its  Inhabitants."  This  work  was  succeeded,  in  1841,  by 
"  Sketches  in  China,"  with  observations  on  the  war  between  that  country  and  Great  Britain.  In 
the  same  year  Mr.  Davis  was  appointed  Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  Hong  Kong,  which 
office  he  held  until  1847.  He  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1822,  created  a  baronet 
in  1845,  and  a  civil  Knight  Grand  Cross  of  the  Bath  in  1854.  He  is  the  author  of  "  Chinese 
Maxims,"  and  several  other  works  relating  to  China,  some  of  which  have  been  translated  into  French 
and  German. 

SIR  HUMPHREY  DAVY,  BAET.,  P.R.S. 

One  of  the  most  eminent  modern  chemists,  was  born  at  Penzance,  in  Cornwall,  in  1778. 
Though  originally  intended  for  the  medical  profession,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  chemistry, 
and  obtained  so  much  celebrity  from  a  work  he  published,  while  superintendent  of  a  Pneumatic 
Institution  at  Bristol,  intitled  "  Chemical  and  Philosophical  Researches,"  that  he  was  immediately 
afterwards  elected  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  the  Royal  Institution.  In  1802  he  became  Professor 
to  the  Board  of  Agriculture.  He  was  knighted  in  1812,  and  created  a  baronet  in  1818.  He  \vas 
elected  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1803,  and  its  President  in  1820 ;  and  an  honorary  member  of 
the  College  of  Surgeons  in  1823.  The  invention  of  the  Safety  Lamp  and  the  discovery  of  the  metallic 
bases  of  the  alkalies  and  earths  have  obtained  for  him  an  imperishable  name.  He  died  at  Geneva 
on  May  28,  1829. 

SIR  HENRY  THOMAS  DE  LA  BECHE,  KNT.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S. 

This  eminent  geologist  was  born  near  London  in  1796.  He  was  educated  at  the  Military  school 
at  Great  Marlow,  and  entered  the  army  in  1814.  In  1817  he  was  elected  Fellow  of  the  Geological 
Society,  of  which  he  afterwards  became  Secretary,  and  in  1847  President.  In  1819  he  was  elected 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  was  knighted  in  1842  ;  and  in  1853  he  was  elected  a  corresponding 
member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Paris.  In  1831  he  published  his  "Geological  Manual," 
which  has  gone  through  several  editions,  and  been  translated  into  French  and  German.  In  the 
same  year  he  projected  a  plan  for  making  a  Geological  Map  of  England,  which  resulted  in  his 


APPENDIX.  227 


being  appointed  by  the  Government  Director  of  the  Ordnance  Geological  Survey  of  Great  Britain. 
Whilst  engaged  in  this  work  he  made  a  large  collection  of  minerals  and  geological  specimens,  which 
formed  the  nucleus  of  the  Museum  of  Practical  Geology  in  Jermyn  Street.  In  1851  courses  of 
lectures  were  delivered  in  this  institution  under  the  name  of  the  Government  School  of  Mines, 
which  have  been  carried  on  with  increasing  usefulness  under  his  successor,  Sir  Roderick  Murchison. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  papers  on  Geology,  which  have  appeared  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Geological  Society.  He  died  April  llth,  1855. 

SIR  JOHN  DENHAM,  K.B.,  F.R.S., 

Was  born  at  Dublin  in  1615.  In  1631  he  entered  as  a  gentleman  commoner  in  Trinity  College, 
Oxford,  and  graduated  in  Arts  in  1634.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Honourable  Society  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  and  might  have  succeeded  at  the  bar  had  he  not  given  himself  up  to  gaming.  In  1641  he  gained 
great  celebrity  by  his  tragedy  of  "The  Sophy,"  and  in  1643  still  more  by  his  "Cooper's  Hill," 
which  is  almost  the  only  one  of  his  poems  now  read.  In  1647  he  performed  many  secret  and 
important  services  for  Charles  I.,  when  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  army,  which  being  discovered, 
he  was  obliged  to  retire  to  France.  In  1652  he  returned  to  England,  and  at  the  Restoration  of 
Charles  II.  was  appointed  Surveyor-General  of  his  Majesty's  buildings,  and  created  Knight  of  the 
Bath,  and  was  elected  by  the  first  Council  a  Member  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1663.  He  died  in 
March,  1688. 

SIR  NICOLAS  DORIGNT,  KNT. 

This  distinguished  engraver  and  designer  was  born  at  Paris  in  1657.  He  was  educated  as  an 
advocate,  but  his  taste  induced  him  to  follow  the  arts  as  a  profession,  and  he  accordingly  went  to 
Rome  and  placed  himself  under  the  tuition  of  his  brother,  a  painter  and  engraver,  and  was  one 
of  the  first  French  historical  engravers  of  his  time.  While  at  Rome  he  became  acquainted  with 
some  English  gentlemen,  who  persuaded  him  to  visit  England  to  engrave  the  Cartoons  of  Raffaelle, 
a  task  he  commenced  in  1712,  and  completed  in  1719,  when  he  presented  two  complete  sets  to 
George  I.,  who  gave  him  a  purse  of  100  guineas,  and  knighted  him  in  the  following  year.  He  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  French  Academy  of  Painting  in  1725.  He  died  at  Paris  in  1746. 

SIR  WILLIAM  DRUMMOND,  KNT.,  F.R.S. 

The  date  of  the  birth  of  this  distinguished  scholar  is  not  known.  His  first  work,  "  A  Review 
of  the  Governments  of  Sparta  and  Athens,"  probably  a  juvenile  performance,  was  published  in  1794. 
At  the  close  of  1795  he  was  returned  to  Parliament  for  St.  Mawes.  In  1801  he  was  appointed 
Ambassador  to  the  Ottoman  Porte,  and  was  honoured  with  the  Order  of  the  Crescent,  which  was 
confirmed  to  him  by  license  in  1805.  In  1824-26  he  published  his  ablest  work  "  Origines,  or 
Remarks  on  the  Origin  of  Several  Empires,  States,  and  Cities."  He  was  the  author  of  several 
archffiological  and  philological  dissertations.  He  died  on  March  29th,  1828. 

SIR  WILLIAM  DUGDALE,  KNT. 

This  eminent  antiquary  was  born  at  Shustoke,  in  Warwickshire,  in  1605.  He  received  the 
rudiments  of  his  education  in  the  Free  School  at  Coventry,  and  completed  it  under  his  father.  In 
1638,  through  the  recommendation  of  Sir  Christopher  Hatton  and  Sir  Henry  Spelman  he  was 
created  by  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  then  Earl  Marshal,  a  pursuivant  at  arms  extraordinary,  by  the 
name  of  Blanche  Lyon ;  and  in  1639-40  Rouge  Croix  pursuivant  in  ordinary.  In  1641  he 
superintended  the  making  of  exact  drawings  of  all  the  monuments  in  Westminster  Abbey,  St.  Paul's, 

29  2 


228  APPENDIX. 


and  in  many  other  cathedrals  and  parish  churches  of  England.  In  1642  the  degree  of  M.A.  was 
conferred  npon  him  at  Oxford ;  and  in  1644  he  was  promoted  to  the  office  of  Chester  Herald. 
In  conjunction  with  Dodsworth  he  published  the  first  vol.  of  "  Monasticon  Anglicanum,"  (a  work 
npon  which  they  had  been  engaged  for  many  years)  at  their  own  expense,  the  booksellers  declining 
to  incur  the  risk.  A  second  volume  was  published  in  1661,  and  the  third  in  1673.  Upon  the 
Restoration  of  Charles  II.  Dugdale  was  advanced  to  the  office  of  Norroy  King  of  Arms  ;  and  in  1677 
he  was  created  Garter  King  of  Arms,  and  the  day  after  received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  He 
published  other  antiquarian  works  of  great  research  and  authority,  too  numerous  for  mention  in 
this  place.  He  died  Feb.  10th,  1686. 

SIR  CHARLES  LOCK  EASTLAKE,  P.R.A.,  F.R.S.,  D.C.L., 

Was  born  at  Plymouth  about  1793.  He  commenced  his  education  at  the  grammar  schools  of 
Plymouth  and  Plympton,  and  for  a  short  time  at  the  Charter  House,  which  he  quitted  at  a  compara- 
tively early  age.  He  studied  at  the  Royal  Academy  under  Fuseli,  and  availed  himself  of  the  advice 
and  experience  of  his  townsman  Haydon.  After  completing  his  studies  he  visited  Paris,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  studying  the  great  works  Napoleon  had  collected  at  the  Louvre,  but  was  prevented  from 
pursuing  his  design  by  the  renewal  of  the  war  on  the  escape  of  the  ex-Emperor  from  Elba,  when  he 
returned  to  England,  and  established  himself  as  a  portrait  painter  at  Plymouth.  While  the  Bellero- 
phon  lay  off  that  port,  with  Napoleon  on  board,  as  the  ex-Emperor  walked  the  deck,  Eastlake,  from  a 
small  boat,  made  sketches  of  him,  and  produced  a  full  length  portrait,  the  most  faithful  likeness  of  him 
at  that  period.  In  1817-18  he  visited  Italy,  Greece,  and  Sicily,  and  then  settled  for  some  time  in 
Rome.  He  exhibited  his  first  pictures  in  1823,  was  admitted  an  Associate  in  1827,  and  in  1830  was 
elected  a  Royal  Academician.  Among  the  pictures  he  contributed  to  the  Exhibition,  his  "  Christ 
weeping  over  Jerusalem"  is  the  most  important.  He  was  elected  President  in  1850,  and  received 
the  honour  of  knighthood.  In  1841  he  was  appointed  Secretary  to  the  Royal  Commission  of  Fine 
Arts,  an  office  he  still  retains ;  and  in  1843,  Keeper  of  the  National  Gallery,  which  he  resigned  in 
1847,  and  in  1855  was  appointed  to  the  new  office  of  Director,  with  a  salary  of  £1000  per  annum. 
He  is  also  Art  Adviser  of  her  Majesty  and  Prince  Albert.  In  1838  he  was  elected  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  in  1853  received  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  from  the  University  of 
Oxford.  In  1855  he  was  created  Knight  of  the  Legion  of  Honour.  His  contributions  to  literature  are 
numerous  and  learned,  of  which  we  may  notice  his  "Materials  for  a  History  of  Oil  Painting,"  and  scat- 
tered essays  which  he  has  collected  under  the  title  of  "  Contributions  to  the  Literature  of  the  Fine  Arts." 

SIR  HENRY  ELLIS,  K.H.,  B.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  HON.  M.R.I.A., 

Was  born  in  London  in  1777.  He  was  educated  at  Merchant  Taylors'  School,  whence  he  pro- 
ceeded to  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  where  he  graduated,  and  was  soon  afterwards  appointed  one 
of  the  Assistant  Librarians  of  the  British  Museum,  and  in  1827  Principal  Librarian,  which  office  he 
resigned  in  1856.  He  was  elected,  in  1807,  a  Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  ;  and  in  1811  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1832  he  was  created  a  Civil  Knight  of  the  Royal  Hanoverian 
Guelphic  Order ;  and  was  knighted  in  1833.  He  is  the  author  of  several  works  on  our  national 
antiquities,  and  one  of  the  Commissioners  for  preparing  and  publishing  the  records  of  the  kingdom, 
and  in  this  capacity  he  wrote  the  general  introduction  to  "  Domesday  Book."  He  was  also  a 
contributor  to  the  new  edition  of  Dugdale's  Monasticon,  commenced  in  1817.  His  papers  in  the 
Archseologia  are  numerous,  and  he  has  contributed  largely  to  the  knowledge  of  our  national  antiquities. 

SIR  GEORGE  ENT,  KNT.,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  P.R.C.P., 

An  eminent  physician,  was  born  at  Sandwich,  in  Kent,  in  1604.  He  was  educated  at  Sidney 
Sussex  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  took  his  B.A.  degree  in  1626,  and  having  afterwards  travelled 
into  foreign  countries  he  obtained  the  degree  of  M.D.  at  Padua  in  1636.  After  his  return  to 


APPENDIX.  229 


England  he  rose  into  great  practice,  and  was  nominated  by  Charles  II.  a  member  of  the  first  council 
of  the  Royal  Society  in  the  Charter  of  Incorporation  in  1662.  On  his  election  as  President  of  the 
College  of  Physicians  in  1665,  he  delivered  an  inaugural  address  before  his  Majesty,  who  was  so 
much  interested  by  it  that  he  knighted  him  upon  the  spot ;  this  is  the  only  instance  of  such  an 
honour  having  been  conferred  in  the  hall  of  the  College.  He  was  the  author  of  several  works  on 
Respiration  and  the  Circulation  of  the  Blood,  which  were  collected  together  in  an  8vo  volume,  and 
published  at  Leyden  in  1687.  He  died  October  13,  1689. 

SIR    CHARLES    FELLOWS,  EOT., 

An  enterprising  traveller,  was  born  at  Nottingham  in  1799.  In  1838  he  commenced  his  tour  in  Asia 
Minor,  which  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  city  of  Xanthus,  and  subsequently  to 
the  transportation  to  this  country  of  the  marbles  and  casts  which  are  now  deposited  in  the  Lycian 
Saloon  of  the  British  Museum.  In  1845  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood  for  his  discoveries  in 
Lycia,  and  his  services  in  the  removal  of  the  Xanthian  marbles.  He  has  published  an  account  of 
his  "  Travels  and  Researches  in  Asia  Minor,  particularly  in  the  Province  of  Lycia."  He  died  on 
November  8,  1860. 

SIR  JOHN  FORBES,  KOT.,  M.D.,  F.R.C.P.,  F.R.S.,  D.C.L. 

This  physician  was  born  at  Cuttlebrae,  in  Banffshire,  in  1787.  He  studied  first  at  theMarischal 
College,  Aberdeen,  and  graduated  as  M.D.  at  Edinburgh  in  1817.  He  commenced  practice  at 
Penzance ;  he  then  removed  to  Chichester,  and  subsequently  to  London.  His  first  work,  which 
obtained  for  him  a  professional  reputation  was  his  translation  of  Laennec,  which  has  gone  through 
several  editions.  This  was  followed  by  a  treatise  on  the  Use  of  the  Stethoscope,  with  a  translation 
of  Avenbrugger.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Provincial  Medical  and  Surgical  Association, 
now  merged  in  the  British  Medical  Association.  On  coming  to  London  he  was  appointed  Physician 
in  Ordinary  to  Her  Majesty's  Household,  and  Physician  Extraordinary  to  Prince  Albert.  He  was 
elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1829  ;  and  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  London, 
in  1844  ;  and  the  University  of  Oxford  have  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  He 
was  knighted  in  1853.  Besides  his  medical  writings  Sir  John  has  contributed  to  literature  many 
works  of  a  lighter  and  more  popular  kind,  such  as  "A  Physician's  Holyday,  or  a  Month  in  Switzer- 
land," &c. 

SIR  CHARLES  FOX,  KST.,  C.E. 

This  civil  engineer  was  born  at  Derby  in  1810.  He  was  originally  intended  for  the  medical 
profession,  but  his  taste  for  engineering  led  him  to  prefer  that  science.  His  greatest  work  was  the 
construction  of  the  building  for  the  Great  Exhibition  in  Hyde  Park,  the  drawings  for  which  occupied 
him  eighteen  hours  a  day  for  seven  weeks.  For  his  success  in  this  undertaking  he  was  knighted 
in  1851.  He  also  constructed,  in  conjunction  with  his  indefatigable  but  unfortunate  partner,  the 
late  Mr.  Henderson,  the  real  workman  in  the  undertaking,  the  Crystal  Palace  at  Sydenham.  He  has 
executed  many  railway  and  other  engineering  works.  Fortune  has  not  smiled  on  his  labours  so 
benignly  as  she  has  on  those  of  others  of  his  class. 

REAR    ADMIRAL    SIR    JOHN    FRANKLIN,    K.C.H.,    D.C.L. 

This  enterprising  and  ill-fated  Arctic  navigator  was  born  at  Spilsby,  in  Lincolnshire.  At  the 
age  of  14  he  was  entered  as  a  midshipman  on  board  the  Polyphemus.  In  1818,  on  the  recommen- 
dation of  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Trent,  which  with  the 
Dorothea  sailed  from  Spitzbergen,  with  the  object  of  navigating  through  the  supposed  Polar  Sea.  In 
1819  he  had  the  command  of  the  first  overland  expedition  for  the  purpose  of  tracing  the  coast  line 


230  APPENDIX. 


of  the  North  American  continent.  For  his  services  on  this  occasion  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
Captain ;  and  in  1823  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1825  he  proceeded  on  his 
second  land  exploration,  and  for  his  services  in  this  expedition  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood 
in  1829  as  commander  of  the  Northern  Land  Expedition,  and  the  University  of  Oxford  conferred 
npon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  In  1836  he  was  appointed  K.C.H.  Civil.  The  French 
Geographical  Society  rewarded  him  with  their  gold  medal,  and  he  was  elected  a  Corresponding 
Member  of  the  Institute  of  France.  He  was,  at  his  own  request,  appointed  by  Lord  Glenelg 
Governor  of  Van  Diemen's  Land,  an  office  he  held  for  seven  years.  He  was  afterwards  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  ill-fated  expedition  for  the  discovery  of  the  North  West  Passage,  originated 
by  Sir  John  Barrow,  and  left  England  in  the  Erebus,  accompanied  by  Captain  Crozier  in  the  Terror, 
in  May,  1845.  His  unhappy  fate  has  been  placed  beyond  doubt  by  the  recent  discoveries  of  Captains 
Belcher  and  M'Clintock,  which  enable  us  to  fix  the  untimely  end  of  this  first  discoverer  of  a  North- 
West  Passage  on  June  11,  1847. 

SIR    SAMUEL    GARTH,  KNT., 

A  physician  and  poet,  was  born  of  a  good  family  in  Yorkshire.  He  was  a  member  of  Peterhouse, 
Cambridge,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  M.D.  in  1691,  and  was,  in  1693,  admitted  a  member  of  the 
College  of  Physicians,  London.  He  was  knighted  on  the  accession  of  George  I.  in  1714.  He  was 
the  author  of  "  The  Dispensary,"  a  poem  written  against  the  apothecaries,  which  went  through 
six  editions  in  as  many  years.  He  died  January  18,  1718. 

SIR    WILLIAM    GELL,    KNT., 

Was  born  in  1777.  He  was  entered  of  Jesus  College,  Cambridge,  graduated  in  1798,  and  took  his 
Master's  degree  in  1804.  He  subsequently  migrated  to,  and  became  a  Fellow  of  Emanuel  College. 
In  1814,  on  the  Princess  of  Wales  leaving  England,  she  appointed  him  one  of  her  Chamberlains,  and 
he  attended  her  at  Naples  and  Rome,  as  appears  from  his  evidence  before  the  House  of  Lords  on  the 
Queen's  trial  in  1820.  He  was  knighted  in  1814,  on  his  return  from  a  mission  to  the  Ionian  Islands. 
His  first  work  was  published  in  1804,  intitled  "  The  Topography  of  Troy  and  its  Vicinity."  This  was 
followed  by  several  others,  of  which  his  "  Pompeiana,  or  Observations  upon  the  Topography,  Edifices, 
and  Ornaments  of  Pompeii"  attracted  most  attention.  Of  this  work  a  second  series  was  published 
in  1835.  He  died  at  Naples,  February  4,  1836. 

SIR  JOHN  WATSON  GORDON,  KNT.,  R.A.,  P.R.S.A.    . 

This  distinguished  portrait  painter  was  born  in  Edinburgh  about  1790.  He  received  his 
professional  education  in  the  Trustees'  Academy,  and  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  portrait  painting. 
It  is  said  of  him  that  while  Raeburn  painted  the  poetic  phase  of  Scottish  physiognomy  to 
perfection,  Gordon  was  no  less  successful  in  painting  its  prosaic.  He  assisted  in  establishing  the 
Scottish  Academy,  to  which  during  his  whole  career  he  was  a  constant  contributor.  He  first 
exhibited  in  the  Royal  Academy  in  1827,  of  which  he  was  elected  an  Associate  in  1841.  In  1850, 
on  the  death  of  Sir  W.  Allan,  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Scottish  Academy,  and  in  the 
same  year  her  Majesty  appointed  him  to  the  office  of  Limner  to  the  Queen  in  Scotland,  and 
conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of  knighthood,  and  the  Royal  Academy  of  London  elected  him 
an  Academician. 

SIR    GEORGE    GREY,    K.C.B., 

Was  born  at  Lisburn,  in  Ireland,  in  1812.  He  was  educated  for  the  Army  at  the  Royal  Military 
College,  Sandhurst,  and  obtained  the  rank  of  Captain.  In  1837,  he  was  employed  by  Government 
to  make  a  journey  of  discovery  in  Australia,  and  a  second  in  1838,  of  which  he  published  an 


APPENDIX.  231 


account  under  the  title  of  "  Journals  of  Two  Expeditions  of  Discovery  in  North  West  and  Western 
Australia."  He  was  successively  appointed  Governor  of  South  Australia  and  New  Zealand ;  of 
the  latter  in  1846.  In  1848  he  was  created  a  Knight  Commander  of  the  Bath.  In  1854  he  was 
appointed  Governor  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  from  which  post  he 
was  recalled,  but  in  which  he  was  afterwards  reinstated,  on  the  remonstrance  of  several  of  the  leading 
colonists,  and  still  holds.  Besides  his  "  Journals,"  he  has  also  published  a  work  on  "  Polynesian 
Mythology." 

SIR  HENRY  HALFORD,  BART.,  G.C.H.,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.S.A. 

This  distinguished  physician  was  born  in  1766,  and  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Vaughan,  Physician  to 
the  Infirmary  at  Leicester.  He  received  his  scholastic  education  at  Rugby,  where  he  was  entered 
in  1774;  from  thence  he  proceeded  to  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  and  took  his  Bachelor's  degree  in 
1787,  his  Master's  in  1789,  his  M.B.  degree  in  1790,  his  M.D.  in  1794,  and  afterwards  studied  at 
Edinburgh.  In  1 794  he  was  elected  Fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians,  and  delivered  the  Harveian 
Orations  in  1800  and  1835.  Having  early  in  life  married  a  daughter  of  Lord  St.  John,  he  soon 
attained  to  considerable  practice  among  the  higher  classes,  and  was  appointed  one  of  the  physicians  to 
George  III.,  an  office  which  he  held  under  George  IV.,  William  IV.,  and  her  present  Majesty.  In 
1809  he  was  created  a  Baronet.  In  1813  he  attended  the  Prince  Regent  to  the  vaults  of  St. 
George's  Chapel,  Windsor,  to  examine  the  contents  of  the  coffin  of  Charles  I.,  of  which  he  has 
published  an  account.  In  1814  he  became  possessed  of  a  large  fortune  by  the  death  of  the  widow 
of  his  mother's  cousin,  Sir  Charles  Halford,  when  by  a  private  Act  of  Parliament  he  changed  his 
name  from  Vaughan  to  Halford.  In  1820  Sir  Henry  was  appointed  President  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  (an  office  he  held  for  more  than  twenty  years),  and  in  1825  delivered  the  Oration  on  the 
removal  of  that  body  to  their  new  building  in  Pall  Mall  East.  In  1826  he  was  appointed  by 
George  IV.  Knight  Commander  of  the  Guelphic  Order,  and  in  1830,  by  William  IV.,  a  Knight 
Grand  Cross.  His  urbanity  of  manners  and  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  college  have  left  a 
grateful  recollection  of  him  among  the  members  of  that  corporation.  His  contributions  to  the 
literature  of  his  profession  principally  consist  of  Latin  Orations  delivered  before  the  College,  which 
are  characterised  by  a  purity  of  style  above  the  average  of  such  productions,  and  Essays  on  various 
medical  subjects,  all  displaying  the  elegant  scholar  and  observant  physician.  Sir  Henry  was  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  and  Antiquarian  Societies.  He  died  March  9,  1 844. 

THE    RIGHT    HON.     SIR    WILLIAM    HAMILTON. 

This  celebrated  diplomatist  and  enterprising  explorer  of  ancient  arts  was  born  in  Scotland  in 
1 730.  He  was  appointed  Ambassador  at  Naples  in  1 764,  an  appointment  which  he  retained  till 
1800.  His  records  of  the  volcanic  phenomena  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Naples  and  the  eruptions  of 
Vesuvius  from  1766  to  1771  are  detailed  in  his  great  work,  the  "  Campi  Phlegrsei,"  in  2  vols.  folio, 
which  forms  a  noble  monument  of  his  enterprise  and  research.  To  this  work  he  published  a 
Supplement  in  1779,  containing  representations  of  the  great  eruption  of  Vesuvius  in  August  of  that 
year.  He  took  much  interest  in  the  excavations  of  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii  and  the  for- 
mation of  the  Museum  of  Portici ;  and  his  collection  of  Greek  and  Etruscan  vases  and  marbles, 
purchased  by  the  Government  in  1772,  now  forms  a  valuable  addition  to  the  British  Museum.  He 
was  made  a  Knight  of  the  Bath  in  1771,  and  a  Privy  Councillor  in  1791.  He  died  April  6th,  1803. 

SIR  WILLIAM  SNOW  HARRIS,  Ksr.,  F.R.S., 

Was  born  at  Plymouth  in  1791.     He  is  a  Member  of  the  College  of  Surgeons  ;  but  is  principally 
celebrated  for  his  discoveries  in  meteorology  and  electricity ;  in  consequence  of  which  he  has  been 


232 


APPENDIX. 


employed  for  the  last  twenty-five  years  in  applying  his  general  principles  to  the  ships  of  the  Royal 
Navy,  which  has  resulted  in  their  perfect  immunity  from  the  dangers  of  lightning.  He  is  also 
the  inventor  of  a  new  steering  compass.  He  has*  received  the  Copley  medal  of  the  Royal  Society, 
of  which  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  in  1831.  In  1845  the  Emperor  of  Russia  presented  to  him  a 
vase ;  and  in  1847  his  scientific  services  were  rewarded  with  the  honour  of  knighthood.  He  is 
the  author  of  several  papers  on  electricity  and  magnetism,  which  have  been  published  in  the 
Philosophical  Transactions. 

SIR   JOHN   HAWKINS,    KNT., 

Was  born  in  London  in  1719.  He  was  articled  to  an  attorney  and  solicitor,  and  acquired  a 
good  professional  business,  from  which  he  retired  on  marrying  a  lady  of  fortune.  In  1 749  he  had 
the  honour  of  being  appointed  one  of  the  nine  members  of  Dr.  Johnson's  Club.  In  1761  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  Middlesex  magistrates  and  became  chairman  of  the  quarter  sessions.  He  was 
knighted  in  1772  for  his  spirited  exertions  in  repressing  the  Brentford  and  Spitaltields  riots  in  1768-9. 
Of  the  productions  of  his  pen  the  chief  is  his  "  History  of  the  Science  and  Practice  of  Music,"  which 
was  published  in  1776 ;  and  in  1787  he  published  a  complete  edition  of  Dr.  Johnson's  works,  with  a 
memoir.  The  valuable  musical  library  which  he  had  accumulated  while  pursuing  his  historical 
inquiries  he  presented  to  the  British  Museum.  Sir  John  died  May  21,  1789. 

SIR    GEORGE    HAYTER,   KNT. 

This  "  Court  Painter  in  ordinary"  was  born  in  London  in  1792.  Having  finished  his  studies  in 
the  Royal  Academy,  he  visited  Italy,  where  he  passed  some  years.  On  his  return,  his  works  exhibited 
so  much  delicacy  of  finish  and  poetical  expression,  that  he  was  appointed  Painter  of  Miniatures 
and  Portraits  to  the  late  Princess  Charlotte  and  Prince  Leopold  ;  and  in  1837  Portrait  and  Historical 
Painter  to  the  Queen ;  and  Her  Majesty's  Principal  Painter  in  Ordinary,  in  1841,  and  teacher  of 
drawing  to  the  Royal  Princesses.  He  was  knighted  in  1842.  He  is  a  member  of  many  of  the 
foreign  Academies,  and  in  1829  was  made  Knight  of  the  Lion  and  Sun,  of  Persia.  His  finest  pic- 
tures are,  "  The  Trial  of  Lord  William  Russell,"  and  "  The  Queen  taking  the  Coronation  Oath."  He 
is  the  author  of  the  Appendix  to  the  "  Hortus  Ericseus  Woburnensis,"  on  the  Classification  of  Colours. 

MAJOR  SIR  FRANCIS  BOND  HEAD,  BART.,  K.C.H. 

This  author  was  born  in  1793  at  the  Hermitage,  near  Rochester.  Having  chosen  arms  as 
his  profession  he  became  Captain  of  Engineers  in  1825,  and  attained  the  rank  of  Major  in  the 
army  in  1828.  In  1825  he  accepted  a  proposal  from  a  mining  association  to  superintend  the  working 
of  the  gold  and  silver  mines  of  the  provinces  of  Rio  de  la  Plata.  Returning  to  London  in  1826  he 
published  his  "  Rough  Notes  of  a  Journey  across  the  Pampas,"  which  was  very  successful.  In  1835 
he  was  appointed  Lieut.-Governor  of  Canada.  In  1837  an  insurrection  broke  out,  which  he  speedily 
suppressed  by  the  colonial  militia  alone ;  but  differences  arising  between  him  and  the  English 
ministry  as  to  the  measures  to  be  adopted,  he  resigned.  His  pleasant  "  Bubbles  from  the  Brunnen 
of  Nassau"  has  obtained  for  him  a  considerable  reputation  as  an  author,  and  for  his  literary  labours 
he  enjoys  a  pension  of  £100  a-year.  He  was  knighted  in  1831,  made  K.C.H.  in  1835,  and  a 
baronet  in  1838. 

SIR    THOMAS    HERBERT,    BAET., 

Was  born  at  York  about  1606.  In  1621  he  was  admitted  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  whence  he 
migrated  to  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  In  1626  he  accompanied  Sir  Dodmore  Cotton,  ambassador 
from  Charles  I.  to  the  Shah  of  Persia,  and  returned  to  England  after  four  years'  absence.  In  1634 
he  published  his  "  Some  Yeares  Travels  into  Africa  and  Asia  the  Great,"  which  he  revised  and 


APPENDIX. 


233 


augmented  in  1638.  This  work  gives  the  best  account  of  Persia  anterior  to  that  of  Chardin,  and 
was  translated  into  Dutch  and  French.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
Parliament  to  receive  the  King  from  the  Scots  at  Newcastle  ;  and  though  opposed  in  politics  and 
religion  to  Charles,  yet  his  respectful  behaviour  won  the  regard  of  his  royal  prisoner,  and  he  attended 
him  to  the  last,  and  in  1678  published  "  Threnodea  Carolina,"  an  historical  account  of  the  last  two 
years  of  Charles  I.  After  the  Eestoration  he  was  created  a  Baronet.  He  died  at  York  in  1682. 

SIR    JOHN    FREDERICK   WILLIAM    HERSCHEL,   BART.,   M.A.,    K.H.,   F.R.S.  L.  AND  E., 

D.C.L.,  P.R.A.S.,  F.G.S. 

A  celebrated  Mathematician  and  Astronomer,  born  at  Slough,  near  Windsor,  in  1 790.  He  was  educated 
at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  and  was  Senior  Wrangler  and  Senior  Smith's  Prizeman  in  1813. 
In  the  same  year  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  His  observations  on  the  multiple 
stars  obtained  for  him  the  gold  medal  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society  in  1826,  and  in  1836  he 
again  obtained  their  gold  medal  for  his  Catalogue  of  Nebulae.  In  1831  he  was  made  a  Civil  Knight 
of  Hanover,  and  was  knighted  in  the  same  year.  In  1 833  he  proceeded  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
to  make  a  survey  of  the  southern  heavens,  which  he  completed  in  little  more  than  four  years, 
entirely  at  his  own  expense.  On  his  return  in  1838  he  was  received  with  every  public  honour 
and  created  a  Baronet.  In  the  following  year  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  was  conferred  upon 
him  at  Oxford,  and  in  1842  he  was  elected  Lord  Rector  of  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen.  In  1848 
the  Astronomical  Society  voted  him  a  testimonial  for  his  work  on  the  Southern  Hemisphere,  and 
elected  him  their  President.  In  1850  he  was  appointed  Master  of  the  Mint,  which  office  he  was 
obliged  to  resign  in  1855,  in  consequence  of  ill  health.  In  the  same  year  he  was  elected  one  of 
the  eight  foreign  associates  of  the  French  Institute.  His  astronomical  and  other  publications, 
which  have  obtained  for  him  a  world-wide  reputation,  are  too  numerous  to  be  mentioned  here. 

SIR    ROWLAND    HILL,    K.C.B., 

The  Originator  of  the  penny  postage  system.  He  was  born  at  Kidderminster  in  1795.  For  several 
years  he  assisted  his  father  in  the  mathematical  department  of  a  seminary  he  conducted  near  Birming- 
ham ;  from  which,  in  1833,  the  bad  state  of  his  health  obliged  him  to  retire  ;  and  he  subsequently 
received  the  appointment  of  Secretary  to  the  South  Australian  Commission.  Having  devoted 
considerable  attention  to  the  errors  and  abuses  of  our  postal  system,  in  1837  he  published  a  pamphlet 
on  post-office  reform,  which  attracted  much  public  attention ;  and  in  1838  a  committee  of  the  House 
of  Commoift  recommended  the  adoption  of  his  proposal,  which,  in  1840,  he  had  the  gratification  of 
seeing  carried  out  in  the  establishment  of  a  uniform  rate,  for  inland  postage,  at  first,  of  4tZ.,  but  which 
was  subsequently  reduced  to  Id.  In  1846,  the  country,  to  shew  their  appreciation  of  the  merit  of  his 
system,  presented  him  with  a  money  testimonial  of  £13,000 ;  and  the  Government  appointed  him 
permanent  Secretary  of  the  Post  Office  in  the  same  year,  and  sole  Secretary  on  the  retirement  of 
Colonel  Maberly  in  1854.  He  was  made  a  Knight  Commander  of  the  Bath  in  1860. 

SIR  HENRY  HOLLAND,  BAKT.,  M.D.,  F.R.C.P.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S. 

This  distinguished  Physician  and  Author  was  born  at  Knutsford,  in  Cheshire,  in  1788.  He 
graduated  at  Edinburgh  in  1811,  and  afterwards  practised  as  a  physician  in  London,  where  he  soon 
gained  a  high  reputation.  In  1840  he  was  appointed  Physician  in  Ordinary  to  Prince  Albert,  and 
in  1852  Physician  in  Ordinary  to  Her  Majesty,  and  in  the  following  year  was  created  a  Baronet. 
He  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1815,  and  of  the  College  of  Physicians  in 
1828.  As  an  author  he  is  well  known  for  a  standard  professional  treatise,  intitled  "  MSdical  Notes 
and  Reflections."  He  is  also  a  contributor  to  the  Philosophical  Transactions. 


30 


234 


APPENDIX. 


SIR    EVERAED    HOME,  BART.,  P.R.C.S.,  V.P.R.S.,  F.S.A., 

An  eminent  Surgeon,  born  at  Greenlaw  Castle,  Berwickshire,  in  1756.  At  an  early  age  he  com- 
menced his  studies  in  surgery  under  the  celebrated  John  Hunter,  who  was  his  brother-in-law.  He 
was  admitted  a  Member  of  the  College  of  Surgeons  in  1779,  and  elected  a  Governor  in  1802; 
became  Master  in  1813,  and  President  in  1821,  and  for  many  subsequent  years.  In  1809  he  was 
appointed  Sergeant-Surgeon  to  George  III;  and  in  1813  the  Prince  Regent  raised  him  to  the 
dignity  of  a  baronet,  and  also  conferred  upon  him  the  appointment  of  Sergeant- Surgeon,  which  was 
continued  to  him  by  William  IV.  He  delivered  the  Hunterian  Oration  in  1814  and  1822.  He  was 
Surgeon  to  St.  George's  and  Chelsea  Hospitals,  and  Honorary  Professor  of  Anatomy  and  Surgery 
to  the  College  of  Surgeons.  He  was  elected  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1787,  and  a  Vice- 
President  in  1814.  His  contributions  to  surgical  literature  are  numerous  and  of  high  repute,  among 
which  may  be  mentioned  his  "  Lectures  on  Comparative  Anatomy,"  in  two  vols.,  4to.  He  died 
Aug.  31,  1832. 

SIR  WILLIAM  JACKSON  HOOKER,  K.H.C.,  V.P.L.S.,  F.R.S.,  D.C.L.,  F.S.A.,  F.G.S. 

This  learned  Botanist  was  born  at  Norwich  in  1 785,  and  deservedly  ranks  amongst  the  most 
distinguished  cultivators  of  systematic  botany  of  the  present  century.  For  many  years  he  was 
Professor  of  Botany  in  the  University  of  Glasgow,  whence  he  was  promoted  to  the  Directorship  of 
the  Royal  Gardens  of  Kew,  in  which,  under  his  management,  have  been  erected  the  large  conser- 
vatory and  other  new  houses,  and  the  museum  of  the  useful  products  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
He  has  published  a  popular  guide  to  the  treasures  of  these  gardens,  which  will  greatly  tend  to 
diffuse  a  knowledge  of  the  natural  history  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  among  the  people.  In  1836  he 
was  made  a  Civil  Knight  of  Hanover,  and  for  many  years  has  been  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents  of  the 
Linnsean  Society,  and  in  1812  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  is  also  a  Fellow  of 
the  Antiquarian  and  Geological  Societies.  In  1845  the  University  of  Oxford  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  D.C.L. ;  and  in  1855  he  was  made  a  Knight  of  the  Legion  of  Honour.  He  is 
also  an  honorary  member  of  many  foreign  scientific  societies.  He  is  the  author  of  several  works  on 
botany,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  his  Flora  Scotica  and  English  Flora. 

SIR  WILLIAM    JONES,  KNT., 

An  accomplished  Oriental  Scholar  and  lawyer,  was  born  in  London  in  1746.  At  seven  he  was 
sent  to  Harrow,  and  at  seventeen  he  entered  University  College,  Oxford.  He  selected  the  law  as  a 
profession,  and  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1774.  In  1783  he  was  appointed  a  Judge  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Judicature  at  Calcutta,  and  received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  In  1783  he  established  the 
Asiatic  Society,  which  held  its  first  sitting  at  Calcutta  in  Jan.  1784.  He  was  a  proficient  in  eight 
languages, — English,  French,  Italian,  Latin,  Greek,  Arabic,  Persian,  and  Sanscrit ;  and,  with  the 
assistance  of  a  dictionary,  was  able  to  read  eight  more, — Spanish,  Portuguese,  German,  Runic, 
Hebrew,  Bengali,  Hindu,  and  Turkish  ;  besides  twelve  others  less  perfectly.  His  "  Essay  on  the 
Law  of  Bailments"  is  considered  a  model  of  its  kind.  His  works,  which  extend  to  six  quarto 
volumes,  were  published  by  his  widow  in  1799.  He  died  April  27, 1794. 


SIR    ROBERT    KANE,    KNT.,  M.D.,  F.R.C.P.I.,  F.R.S.,  M.R.I.A., 

A  physician  of  high  repute,  born  in  Dublin  in  1810.  Soon  after  the  completion  of  his  medical 
education,  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Chemistry  to  Apothecaries'  Hall,  Dublin,  and  elected  a 
Member  of' the  Medico-Chirurgical  Society  of  Dublin,  and  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Societies 
of  Pharmacy  and  of  Medical  Chemistry  of  Paris.  In  1830  he  obtained  the  prize  offered  by  Dr.  Graves 


APPENDIX. 


235 


for  the  best  essay  on  the  pathological  condition  of  the  fluids  in  typhus  fever.  In  1832  he  took 
his  M.D.  degree  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin ;  and  in  the  same  year  projected  the  "  Dublin  Journal 
of  Medical  Science."  In  1832  he  was  elected  a  Member  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  and  was  placed 
on  the  Council  in  1841 ;  and  in  the  same  year  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Irish  College  of  Physi- 
cians, and  appointed  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  to  the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  which  he  resigned 
in  1847 ;  and  received  from  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  the  Cunningham  gold  medal,  for  some  useful 
chemical  discoveries.  He  was  knighted  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant  in  1846  ;  and  in  the  same  year  was 
formed,  at  his  recommendation,  the  Museum  of  Irish  Industry.  He  was  appointed  President  of 
Queen's  College,  Cork :  and  delivered  his  inaugural  address  on  Nov.  7,  1849.  He  was  also  in  this 
year  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  who  conferred  upon  him  the  Royal  Medal.  The  second 
edition  of  his  "  Elements  of  Chemistry,"  which  he  published  in  1844,  is  probably  the  most  useful 
work  of  its  kind.  He  is  the  author  of  several  other  works. 


SIR    JAMES    PHILLIPS    KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH,  BAET.,  LL.D., 

Was  born  in  1804.  He  received  his  education  in  Scotch  and  Foreign  universities,  and  took  his 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  When  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council  on  Education  was  nomi- 
nated, Dr.  Kay  was  appointed  its  Secretary ;  from  which  he  retired  in  1850,  and  was  honoured  with 
a  baronetcy.  Although  retired  from  official  service,  he  continues  to  take  an  active  part  in  all  educa- 
tional movements,  on  which  his  fame  has  been  established.  In  1842  he  married  the  representative 
of  the  ancient  family  of  Shuttleworth,  whose  name  he  has  assumed  by  royal  license. 


SIR  GODFREY  KNELLER,  BART. 

A  celebrated  Painter,  was  born  at  Liibeck,  in  1648.  He  received  his  first  instruction  in  the  art 
from  Rembrandt ;  and  afterwards  became  a  pupil  of  Ferdinand  Bol.  He  then  visited  Rome  and 
Venice,  where  he  acquired  considerable  reputation  from  several  portraits  he  had  painted  of  noble 
families,  and  some  historical  paintings.  He  subsequently  went  to  Hamburg,  and  lastly  to  London, 
where  he  was  patronised  by  the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  by  whom  he  was  introduced  to  Charles  II., 
whose  portrait  he  painted  several  times.  He  was  state  painter  to  Charles  II.,  James  II.,  William  III., 
Queen  Anne,  and  George  I. ;  and  by  the  latter  he  was  created  a  baronet,  in  1715.  The  Emperor 
Leopold  made  him  a  Knight  of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  beauties  of  the  Court  of  William  III., 
painted  by  order  of  the  Queen,  are  very  inferior  to  Sir  Peter  Lely's  "  Beauties  of  the  Court  of 
Charles  II."  Sir  Godfrey  died  in  1726. 

SIR  EDWIN  LANDSEER,  KNT.,  R.A., 

The  unequalled  Animal  Painter,  was  born  in  1803.  His  father  directed  his  education,  and  taught 
him  to  sketch  the  animals  they  met  with  in  their  rambles  on  Hampstead  Heath.  His  first  work  was 
exhibited  in  1817;  and  in  1819,  when  only  sixteen,  his  "Fighting  Dogs"  attracted  general  notice, 
and  was  purchased  by  Sir  George  Beaumont.  In  1826  he  was  elected  Associate  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  and  Royal  Academician  in  1831,  and  was  knighted  in  1850.  For  the  Copyright  of  "The 
Highland  Drovers,"  the  first  of  his  paintings  engraved,  he  received  only  200  guineas ;  but  for 
"  Peace,"  and  "  War,"  which  were  bought  by  Mr.  Vernon  for  1,200  guineas,  Mr.  Graves  paid  him 
3,000  guineas.  At  the  Exposition  Universelle,  in  1855,  a  "  large  gold  medal"  was  awarded  to  him, 
being  the  only  English  artist  to  whom  a  medal  of  that  class  was  given.  Sir  Edwin's  works  are  so 
popular  in  this  country,  and  so  familiar  to  every  lover  of  the  art,  that  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  enu- 
merate them. 


30  2 


236  APPENDIX. 


SIR  THOMAS  LAWRENCE,  KOT.,  P.R.A. 

This  most  successful  Portrait  Painter  was  born  at  Bristol,  in  1769.  His  father,  after  many 
vicissitudes  in  life,  became  landlord  of  the  Black  Bear,  at  Devizes,  an  inn  at  that  time  much  frequented 
by  the  rich  and  fashionable  on  their  way  to  Bath.  It  was  here  that  young  Lawrence  shewed  his 
predilection  for  an  art  in  which  he  afterwards  attained  such  eminence.  In  1775,  when  only  six  years 
old,  he  took  the  portraits  in  profile  of  Mr.  (afterwards  Lord)  Kenyon  and  his  lady,  who  were  staying 
at  the  inn  :  the  likenesses  are  said  to  have  been  accurate,  and  the  execution  easy  and  spirited.  About 
this  time  he  was  sent  to  a  respectable  school  kept  by  Mr.  Jones,  from  which  he  was  removed,  when 
only  eight  years  of  age,  and  this  was  all  the  regular  education  he  received.  In  1 782  his  father  settled 
at  Bath,  and  placed  him  tinder  Mr.  Prince  Hoare,  a  crayon  painter  of  much  taste,  from  whom  he 
acquired  that  grace  and  elegance  which  qualified  him  to  be  so  pre-eminently  the  painter  of  female 
beauty.  At  thirteen  he  received  from  the  Society  of  Arts  the  great  silver  pallet  and  a  present  of  five 
guineas,  for  a  copy,  in  crayons,  of  the  "  Transfiguration."  In  1787  he  came  to  London,  and  was  soon 
after  introduced  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  In  this  year  he  first  exhibited  at  Somerset  House,  where 
seven  of  his  pictures,  all  female  portraits,  were  admitted.  In  1791  he  was  elected  a  Supplemental 
Associate  of  the  Royal  Academy,  being  under  twenty-four,  the  earliest  age  at  which  associates  can  be 
admitted.  He  was  elected  R.A.  in  1791,  and  in  the  following  year,  on  the  death  of  Sir  J.  Reynolds, 
was  appointed  Portrait  Painter  to  George  III.  In  1815  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  At 
the  command  of  the  Prince  Regent  he  painted  the  Portraits  of  the  Princes,  Statesmen,  and  cele- 
brated Generals  who  visited  London  after  the  Peace.  In  1820,  on  the  death  of  Mr.  West,  he  was 
elected  President  of  the  Royal  Academy.  He  died  January  7,  1830. 


SIR    PETER    LELY,  KXT., 

A  successful  painter  of  female  beauty,  was  born  at  Soest,  in  Westphalia,  in  1617.  He  was  a  pupil 
of  Peter  Grebber,  of  Haarlem.  He  came  over  to  this  country,  and  was  appointed  state  painter  to 
Charles  II.  He  is  celebrated  for  his  series  of  the  Beauties  of  the  Court  of  Charles  II.,  preserved  at 
Hampton  Court,  among  whom  he  found  ample  scope  for  his  immodest  pencil.  Of  his  historical 
pictures,  "  Susannah  and  the  Elders,"  at  Burlington  House,  is  one  of  his  best.  He  equally  excelled 
as  a  crayon  painter.  He  died  in  1680. 


SIR    JOHN    LESLIE,  K.H., 

A  celebrated  Mathematician  and  Natural  Philosopher,  was  born  at  Largo,  in  Fifeshire,  in  1766. 
In  1779  he  was  sent  to  St.  Andrew's,  and  after  studying  there  for  six  sessions,  he  removed  to 
Edinburgh  in  1783-4,  where  he  attended  the  classes  of  several  of  the  professors  for  three  years.  In 
1790  he  repaired  to  London,  and  commenced  writing  for  the  periodicals;  he  contributed  many 
articles  to  the  "Monthly  Review,"  and  translated  Buifon's  "Natural  History  of  Birds,"  which 
appeared  in  nine  vols.,  in  1793.  In  1805  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  University  of 
Edinburgh,  and  occupied  that  chair  for  fourteen  years,  when  he  was  promoted  to  the  chair  of  Natural 
Philosophy,  on  the  death  of  Professor  Playfair  in  1819.  He  was  the  inventor  of  the  Diiferontial 
Thermometer,  and  author  of  an  "Essay  on  the  Nature  and  Propagation  of  Heat,"  for  which  work 
the  Royal  Society  awarded  him  the  Rumford  Medal.  He  was  a  corresponding  Member  of  the  Roy:il 
Institute  of  France.  Besides  his  numerous  mathematical  works,  he  was  a  contributor  to  the  "  Edin- 
burgh Philosophical  Transactions,"  "  Enclycopsedia  Britannica,"  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  and  "  Nichol- 
son's Philosophical  Journal."  He  was  made  a  Knight  of  the  Royal  Guelphic  Order  in  1832,  and 
died  on  Nov.  3,  in  the  same  year. 


APPENDIX. 


237 


SIR  CHARLES  LYELL,  KNT.,  D.C.L.,  P.G.S. 

This  distinguished  Geologist  was  born  at  Kinnordy,  in  Forfarshire,  in  1797.  He  was  educated 
at  Midhurst,  in  Sussex,  whence  he  removed  to  Exeter  College,  Oxford,  where  he  graduated  as  A.B.  in 
1819,  and  A.M.  in  1821.  He  was  afterwards  called  to  the  bar;  but  preferring  geology  to  the  law,  he  gave 
himself  up  entirely  to  the  study  of  the  former,  and  in  1832,  on  the  opening  of  King's  College,  was 
appointed  Professor  of  Geology.  He  was  one  of  the  early  Members  of  the  Geological  Society,  and  in 
1836  was  elected  its  President ;  an  honour  which  was  conferred  upon  him  a  second  time  in  1850-1. 
He  was  knighted  in  1848  ;  and  in  1855  the  University  of  Oxford  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  D.C.L.  The  works  on  which  his  high  reputation  rests,  are  "  Principles  of  Geology," 
"  Elements  of  Geology,"  and  "  Travels  in  North  America."  He  is  one  of  the  most  active  members 
of  the  British  Association. 


THE  RT.  HON.  SIR  EDWARD  GEORGE  EARLE  LYTTON  BULWER  LYTTON,  BART. 

A  celebrated  Poet  and  Novelist,  was  born  in  1805.  In  1820,  while  only  fifteen  years  old,  he  published 
his  first  work  "  Ismael,  an  Oriental  Tale."  He  was  admitted  a  fellow-commoner  of  Trinity-Hall, 
Cambridge,  and  obtained  the  Chancellor's  Medal  for  his  Poem  on  "  Sculpture."  He  took  his  B.A. 
degree  in  1826,  and  his  Master's  was  conferred  upon  him  in  1835.  In  1827  appeared  his  first  novel, 
"  Falkland,"  which  was  followed,  in  1828,  by  "  Pelham,"  and  stamped  his  fame.  In  1831  he  was 
returned  to  Parliament  for  St.  Ives.  In  1835  he  published  a  pamphlet,  "  The  Crisis,"  which  ran 
rapidly  through  more  than  twenty  editions,  and  won  for  him  a  Baronetcy.  In  1844  he  succeeded, 
by  his  mother's  death,  to  the  estates  of  Knebsworth,  and  by  royal  licence  added  Lytton  to  his  own 
surname.  In  1856  he  was  elected  Lord  Rector  of  Glasgow  University,  and  in  1858,  when  Lord 
Derby's  second  administration  was  formed,  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies. 
His  novels  and  other  writings  are  so  numerous  and  so  generally  read,  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  par- 
ticularize them  ;  the  fashionable,  the  romantic,  the  sentimental,  and  the  domestic,  are  written  with 
equal  felicity. 


THE  RIGHT  HON.  THOMAS  BABINGTON  LORD  MACAULAY. 

This  Essayist,  Poet,  and  Historian  was  born  at  Rothley  Temple,  Leicestershire,  in  1800.  He 
was  educated  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  In  1819  he  gained  the  Chancellor's  Medal  for  his 
poem,  "Pompeii";  and  in  1821  he  gained  the  like  honour  for  another  poem,  "Evening,"  and 
obtained  the  Craven  Scholarship.  In  1822  he  took  his  B.A.  degree,  and  obtained  a  Fellowship  in  the 
same  year.  In  1825  he  contributed  to  the  "  Edinburgh  Review"  his  article  on  Milton,  from  which  we 
have  extracted,  in  pp.  152-3,  its  splendid  conclusion.  This  was  followed  in  the  ensuing  twenty  years 
by  a  series  of  brilliant  essays,  which  have  illustrated  the  pages  of  that  far-famed  periodical.  He  was 
called  to  the  bar  by  the  Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn  in  1826,  and  was  soon  after  appointed  by  the  Whigs 
a  Commissioner  of  Bankruptcy.  He  obtained  a  seat  in  Parliament  for  the  borough  of  Calne  in  1830, 
and  was  appointed  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Control  for  India.  In  1832  he  was  returned  to  the 
first  reformed  Parliament  as  member  for  Leeds.  He  resigned  his  seat  in  1834,  on  being  appointed 
a  Member  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  Calcutta.  In  1839  he  accepted  the  office  of  Secretary  at  War, 
taking  his  seat  as  member  for  Edinburgh  in  1840.  In  1846  he  was  appointed  Paymaster  of  the 
Forces,  with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet,  which  office  he  held  till  1847,  when  he  lost  his  election  for 
Edinburgh,  and  retired  from  Parliament.  In  1842  he  published  his  "  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome,"  and 
in  1849  appeared  the  first  two  volumes  of  his  "  History  of  England";  and  in  the  same  year  he  was 
elected  Lord  Rector  of  the  University  of  Glasgow,  and  became  a  Bencher  of  Lincoln's  Inn.  In 
1850  he  was  appointed  to  the  honorary  office  of  Professor  of  Ancient  History  in  the  Royal  Academy, 


238 


APPENDIX. 


and  in  1853  he  received  the  Prussian  Order  of  Merit.  In  1852  the  citizens  of  Edinburgh  re-elected 
him  as  their  representative ;  but  his  health  compelled  him  to  resign  his  seat  in  1850.  He  was 
created  a  peer  in  1857,  an  honour  he  did  not  live  long  to  enjoy,  for  he  died  on  December  28,  1859. 


SIR  ROBERT  JOHN  LE  MESURIER  MACLURE,  KNT.,  CAPT.  R.N., 

An  enterprising  Arctic  Navigator,  was  born  in  Wexford,  in  Ireland,  in  1807.  He  was  educated  at 
Eton,  whence  he  proceeded  to  the  Royal  Military  College  at  Sandhurst ;  but  preferring  the  naval 
profession  to  the  military,  he  obtained,  through  the  influence  of  his  godfather,  General  Le  Mesurier, 
the  appointment  of  a  midshipman  on  board  the  Victory.  In  1836  he  volunteered  to  join  the  Arctic 
expedition  under  Captain  Back,  and  on  his  return  in  1837  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant.  In  1848  he  again  volunteered  to  accompany  Sir  James  Ross  in  his  expedition  in  search 
of  Sir  John  Franklin,  and  was  then  made  first  lieutenant ;  and  obtained  the  rank  of  commander  on 
his  return  in  1849.  In  1850  he  was  appointed  to  the  Investigator,  to  accompany  Captain  Collinson 
(the  senior  officer)  in  the  Enterprise,  on  a  second  voyage  in  search  of  Sir  John  Franklin.  The  two 
ships  separated  in  a  gale,  and  never  met  again.  Captain  Maclure  continued  his  voyage,  and  on 
the  30th  September,  in  an  exploring  party,  after  his  ship  had  been  frozen  in,  he  discovered  the 
north-west  passage ;  and  in  July  1851,  the  Investigator  being  again  afloat,  and  after  escaping  many 
dangers,  he  discovered  a  second  north-west  passage.  In  1852  the  ice  did  not  break  up,  and 
provisions  becoming  scarce,  he  determined  in  1853  to  endeavour  to  return  to  England.  This  was 
accomplished  by  the  opportune  arrival  of  Captain  Kennett,  in  the  Resolute,  at  Melville  Island  in  the 
spring  of  1853,  who  carried  off  part  of  the  crew ;  but  Captain  Maclure,  with  a  few,  remained  with 
the  Investigator  in  the  vain  hope  that  the  ice  might  break  up  and  liberate  her.  This  not  happening, 
he  returned  to  England  in  1853  with  the  expedition  under  Captain  Sir  Edward  Belcher.  In  1855 
he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood,  and  a  reward  of  £5,000. 

SIR  FRANCIS  LEOPOLD  M'CLINTOCK,  CAFT.  R.N. 

This  celebrated  Arctic  Navigator  was  born  at  Dundalk,  in  Ireland,  in  1819.  In  1831  he  entered 
the  navy  as  a  midshipman,  and  obtained  his  lieutenancy  in  1845.  In  1848,  when  the  Enterprise 
and  Investigator  were  despatched  by  government  in  search  for  Sir  John  Franklin,  McClintock  was 
appointed  lieutenant  on  board  the  former  ship,  and  distinguished  himself  by  his  extraordinary 
journeys  on  foot  overland,  and  the  great  additions  he  made  to  geographical  knowledge.  In  1853 
he  commanded  the  Intrepid,  one  of  the  four  ships  forming  Sir  E.  Belcher's  searching  expedition. 
In  1857  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Fox,  and  with  this  steam  yacht  of  but  177  tons, 
and  with  a  crew  of  only  twenty-four,  he  succeeded  in  the  object  of  his  search,  and  has  made  his 
name  rank  among  the  first  and  greatest  of  our  arctic  heroes.  Of  this  voyage  and  its  results  he  has 
published  a  most  interesting  account  in  his  "  Narrative  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Fate  of  Sir  John 
Franklin  and  his  Companions."  In  1860  Her  Majesty  conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of  knighthood; 
and  on  January  19th,  of  the  same  year,  he  was  presented  with  the  freedom  of  the  city  of  London  in 
a  snuff-box  of  British  oak  of  the  value  of  fifty  guineas. 


SIR  JAMES  M'GRIGOR,  BART.,  K.C.B.,  K.C.T.S.,  M.D.ED.,  F.R.S.L.  &  E.,  LL.D., 
F.R.C.P.L.  &  E.,  F.R.C.S.E.  &  L. 

An  Army  Medical  Officer  of  great  repute,  was  born  at  Cromdale,  Strathspey,  Invernessshire,  in  1771. 
He  was  educated  at  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen,  where  he  took  his  M.A.  degree.  From  Aberdeen 
he  proceeded  to  Edinburgh  and  graduated  as  M.D. ;  whence  he  came  to  London,  and  attended  the 


APPENDIX.  239 


lectures  of  Mr.  Wilson,  of  Windmill  Street.  In  1793  he  entered  the  army  as  surgeon  of  the 
88th  regiment ;  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  deputy  inspector-general  in  1805 ;  inspector- 
general  in  1809  ;  and  director-general  in  1815,  when  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  He  was 
created  a  baronet  in  1831,  and  a  K.C.B.  in  1851 ;  the  war  medal,  with  five  clasps,  was  also  conferred 
upon  him  for  his  services  in  Egypt,  Badajos,  Vittoria,  the  Pyrenees,  and  Toulouse.  He  was  appointed 
Physician  Extraordinary  to  the  Queen,  on  her  accession  to  the  throne,  an  office  he  had  held  under 
George  IV.  and  William  IV.  He  was  elected  Lord  Rector  of  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen,  in  1822, 
and  again  in  1823,  when  the  election  was  contested  by  Mr.  Joseph  Hume,  M.P.  In  1825  the 
university  of  Edinburgh  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  He  was  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  of  the  Royal  Colleges  of  Physicians  of  London  and  Edinburgh ; 
and  an  honorary  fellow  of  the  various  medical  societies  of  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  America.  He  is 
also  a  Knight  Commander  of  the  Portuguese  Order  of  the  Tower  and  Sword,  the  decorations  of 
which  he  is  permitted  to  wear ;  he  has  also  received  the  Order  of  the  Crescent  from  the  Sultan  for 
liis  services  in  Egypt.  He  died  April  3,  1858.  The  character  of  this  distinguished  army  medical 
officer  is  thus  summed  up  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  one  of  his  despatches  ;  "  I  consider  him  one 
of  the  most  industrious,  able,  and  successful  public  servants  I  have  ever  met  with." 


THE  RIGHT  HON.  SIR  JAMES  MACKINTOSH,  KNT. 

This  distinguished  Scholar  and  Statesman  was  born  at  Aldourie,  in  Morayshire,  on  Oct.  24,  1765. 
He  was  educated  at  a  school  in  Fortrose,  and  at  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  where  he  graduated  as 
M.A.  in  1784,  and  then  removed  to  Edinburgh  and  took  his  M.D.  degree  in  1787.  He  repaired 
to  London  with  the  intention  of  commencing  practice  as  a  Physician ;  but  politics  and  literature  being 
more  congenial  to  his  taste,  he  relinquished  that  idea  and  became  a  political  writer  in  the  "  Oracle" 
newspaper;  and  in  1791  published  his  "  Vindicia3  Gallicse,"  which  obtained  the  applause  of  even 
Burke  himself,  and  the  friendship  of  Fox  ;  and  on  the  formation  of  the  "  Association  of  the  Friends 
of  the  People,"  he  was  nnanimously  appointed  the  Secretary.  He  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1 795,  by  the 
Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  who  granted  him  the  use  of  their  Hall  for  the  delivery  of  a  course  of  Lectures 
"  On  the  Law  of  Nations  and  Nature,"  of  which  the  success  was  triumphant.  He  greatly  distin- 
guished himself  as  an  advocate,  especially  as  the  Counsel  of  Peltier,  who  was  tried  for  a  libel  against 
Napoleon  Buonaparte ;  his  speech  on  that  occasion  being  charactised  by  Lord  Ellenborough  as  "  the 
most  eloquent  he  had  ever  heard  in  Westminster  Hall."  In  1803  he  was  appointed  Recorder  of 
Bombay,  and  received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  After  seven  years'  residence  in  India  he  returned 
to  England,  and  in  1813  was  elected  Member  of  Parliament  for  the  County  of  Nairn.  In  1818  he 
accepted  the  office  of  Professor  of  Law  and  General  Politics  in  the  East  India  College  at  Haileybury. 
In  1822  he  was  elected  Lord  Rector  of  Glasgow,  in  preference  to  Sir  Walter  Scott ;  and  in  the 
following  year,  a  Vice-President  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature ;  and  in  July,  1826,  he  became  one 
of  the  Council  for  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  London  University.  Soon  after  his  return  from  India, 
he  commenced  an  extensive  historical  work  on  the  affairs  of  England  subsequent  to  the  Revolution, 
which  he  did  not  live  to  complete.  He  died  May  22,  1832. 


SIR  JOHN  MACNEILL,  KNT.,  F.R.S.,  F.R.A.S.,  M.R.I.A., 

A  Civil  Engineer,  was  born  at  Mount  Pleasant,  near  Dundalk,  in  Ireland.  He  was  educated  as  a 
military  engineer,  but  afterwards  adopted  the  civil  branch  of  the  profession.  In  1838  he  was  elected 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London.  He  constructed  "  Tables  for  Facilitating  the  Calculation  of 
Earthwork  in  Railway  Cuttings,"  by  which  he  has  acquired  considerable  reputation.  He  was  the 
Chief  Engineer  on  the  Dublin  and  Drogheda  Railway,  on  the  opening  of  which,  in  1844,  he  received 


240 


APPENDIX. 


the  honour  of  knighthood  from  the  Lord  Lieutenant.  In  1842  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Civil 
Engineering  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  an  office  which  he  at  present  holds. 

SIR  FREDERICK  MADDEN,  K.H.,  F.R.S., 

An  eminent  Antiquarian  Writer,  was  born  at  Portsmouth,  in  1801.  In  1825  he  assisted  Mr. 
Roscoe  in  the  compilation  of  the  "  The  Catalogue  of  Manuscripts  at  Holkham."  In  1826  he  was 
appointed  to  an  office  in  the  British  Museum,  and  assisted  in  the  compilation  of  a  classed  catalogue 
of  the  printed  books  in  that  National  Library.  In  1828  he  was  made  assistant  keeper  of  the  MSS., 
and  in  1837  he  was  promoted  to  the  head  of  the  department.  In  1832  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society  ;  in  the  same  year  he  received  the  honour  of  the  Civil  Order  of  the  Gnelphic  Knights  of 
Hanover,  and  was  knighted  in  1833  ;  and  in  1834  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  Gentlemen  of  the 
King's  Privy  Chamber.  TTia  numerous  literary  labours  are  principally  editorial,  bearing  chiefly  on 
English  history  and  the  earlier  progress  of  its  language  and  literature. 

SIR    JOHN    MARSHAM,  KNT., 

A  learned  Author,  the  son  of  an  alderman,  was  born  in  the  parish  of  St.  Bartholomew  in  1602.  He 
was  educated  in  Westminster  school,  and  at  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  where  lie  graduated.  Having 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law,  he  obtained  the  appointment  of  one  of  the  Six  Clerks  ;  an 
office  of  which  he  was  deprived  when  the  contentions  arose  between  the  King  and  the  Parliament. 
On  the  Restoration  he  was  elected  member  for  the  city  of  Rochester,  and  reinstated  in  the  Six 
Clerks'  office.  He  was  knighted  by  Charles  II.,  and  soon  after  created  a  baronet.  In  his  literary 
pursuits  he  particularly  directed  his  attention  to  the  disentangling  of  the  perplexed  statements  of 
early  writers  concerning  ancient  dynasties  and  events.  The  result  of  his  studies  he  published  in  a 
folio  volume,  in  1672,  intitled  "  Canon  Chronicus  ^Egyptiacus,  Ebraicus,  Groecus."  He  has  written 
other  works  on  kindred  subjects,  but  which  have  not  appeared  in  print.  He  died  in  1685. 

SIR    SAMUEL    RUSH    MEYRICK,  K.H.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

This  celebrated  Antiquary  was  born  in  1783.  He  was  educated  at  Queen's  College,  Oxford, 
where  he  took  his  A.B.  degree.  He  was  admitted  an  Advocate  in  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts  in  1811. 
In  1810  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries ;  and  in  1814  he  published,  in  con- 
junction with  Capt.  Hamilton,  a  work  on  the  "  Costume  of  the  Original  Inhabitants  of  the  British 
Islands."  His  great  work  on  arms  and  armour  was  published  in  1824.  In  1826  he  assisted  in  the 
arrangement  of  the  collection  of  arms  and  armour  in  the  Tower ;  and  in  1 828  he  was  appointed  by 
George  IV.  to  arrange  the  collection  at  Windsor.  For  these  services  he  received  the  honour  of  K.H. 
from  William  IV.  in  1832.  In  1834,  when  High  Sheriff  of  Herefordshire,  he  revived  a  procession  of 
the  javelin-men  in  Armour,  and  with  mediaeval  pageantry.  The  suite  of  apartments  at  his  residence, 
Goodrich  Court,  was  arranged  especially  for  the  display  of  his  collection  of  armour,  and  terminated 
with  a  chamber  in  which  was  represented  a  grand  tournament.  Sir  Samuel  was  also  author  of  many 
other  works  and  papers  on  ancient  armour  and  furniture,  etc.  He  died  on  April  2,  1848. 

SIR   THOMAS    LIVINGSTONE    MITCHELL,  KNT.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S. 

A  most  successful  Explorer  of  the  Australian  continent,  was  born  in  1792,  at  Craig  End,  Stir- 
lingshire. He  entered  the  army  in  1808,  and  served  on  the  staff  till  the  termination  of  the  Penin- 
sular war,  when  he  had  attained  the  rank  of  major.  From  the  surveys  of  the  great  battle-fields 
in  the  Peninsula,  which  he  was  sent  back  to  make,  he  constructed  maps  unsurpassed  for  accuracy 


APPENDIX. 


241 


and  skilful  execution.  In  1827  he  published  "  Outlines  of  a  System  of  Surveying  for  Geographical 
and  Military  Purposes,"  and  received  the  appointment  of  Deputy  Surveyor-  General  of  New  South 
Wales,  and  subsequently  that  of  Surveyor-General,  an  office  which  he  retained  till  his  death.  In 
1838  he  published  his  account  of  "  Three  Expeditions  into  the  Interior  of  Eastern  Australia," 
performed  in  the  years  1831-2,  1835,  and  1836.  In  1839  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood,  and 
the  University  of  Oxford  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  He  was  also  elected  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  and  Geographical  Societies.  In  1848  he  published  his  "  Journal  of  an  Expedition 
into  the  Interior  of  Tropical  Australia,"  which  he  had  undertaken,  in  the  years  1845-6,  and  was 
obliged  to  relinquish  from  want  of  water  and  pasture.  In  1854  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
colonel.  Sir  Thomas  died  at  his  residence,  near  Sydney,  on  Oct.  5,  1855,  and  was  honoured  with  a 
public  funeral. 

SIR  THOMAS  CHARLES  MORGAN,  KNT.,  M.D. 

Born  about  1783.  He  was  educated  in  succession  at  Eton,  the  Charterhouse,  and  St.  Peter's 
College,  Cambridge.  He  took  his  M.B.  degree  in  1804,  and  his  M.D.  in  1809.  He  commenced 
practice  in  London,  and  was  admitted  a  Fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians.  He  was  knighted  in 
Ireland  in  1811.  In  1812,  being  then  a  widower,  he  married  Miss  Owenson,  whose  writings  as 
Lady  Morgan  have  imparted  a  lustre  to  the  name.  Sir  Thomas  soon  after  this  marriage  relinquished 
his  professional  practice  and  applied  his  talents  to  literature,  and  became  a  contributor  to  the  "  New 
Monthly,"  and  other  periodicals.  In  1818  he  published  "  Sketches  of  the  Philosophy  of  Life,"  and 
the  "  Philosophy  of  Morals,"  both  of  which  were  translated  into  French  and  Italian.  He  also  added 
to  Lady  Morgan's  "France,"  "Four  Appendices  on  the  State  of  Law,  Finance,  Medicine,  and  Political 
Opinion  in  France."  In  1831  he  was  appointed  by  the  whigs  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  Irish 
Fisheries.  He  died  August  28th,  1843. 

SIR  SAMUEL  MORLAND,  BART., 

Was  the  son  of  Rev.  T.  Morland,  of  Sulhampstead-Bannister,  near  Reading,  and  was  born  about 
1625.  He  was  educated  at  Winchester  and  Cambridge,  but  never  took  a  degree.  He  accompanied 
Whitelocke  on  the  famous  embassy  to  the  Queen  of  Sweden  ;  and  on  his  return  became  assistant  to 
Thnrloe,  the  Secretary  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  He  is  said  to  have  been  privy  to  the  plot  formed  in 
1659  for  the  capture  of  Charles  II.,  usually  known  as  Sir  Richard  Willis's  plot,  of  which  he  found 
means  to  apprise  the  king.  In  May,  1660,  he  visited  Charles,  at  Breda,  in  Holland,  who  knighted 
him  and  soon  afterwards  created  him  a  baronet.  On  the  Restoration  Charles  made  him  his  Master 
of  Mechanics,  and  presented  him  with  a  medal,  as  a  "badge  of  his  signal  loyalty,"  and  shortly  after 
appointed  him  gentleman  of  his  privy  chamber.  In  1666  he  wrote  a  work  on  the  quadrature  of 
curvilinear  spaces,  which  was  never  published  ;  and  about  the  same  time  he  invented  his  arithmetical 
machine,  by  which  the  four  fundamental  rules  of  arithmetic  might  be  readily  and  accurately  worked. 
He  also  invented  a  Perpetual  Almanac,  and  the  Speaking  Trumpet.  If  not  the  inventor,  he  greatly 
improved  the  fire  engine,  and  devoted  much  of  his  study  to  water  engines,  pumps,  &c.,  which  he 
carried  to  a  high  state  of  perfection.  He  was  also  the  author  of  several  tracts  on  a  variety  of  subjects. 
The  latter  years  of  his  life  were  embittered  by  poverty  and  blindness.  He  died  Dec.  30,  1695. 


SIR  WILLIAM  MORICE,  KNT. 

He  was  born  at  Exeter  in  1602,  and  was  educated  at  Exeter  College,  Oxford,  where  he  took  his  A.B. 
degree.  He  was  elected  a  Member  for  Devonshire  in  1645,  an  honour  unsolicited  on  his  part,  and 
was  knighted  by  Charles  II.,  on  his  restoration.  He  was  author  of  a  work  on  the  Lord's  Supper, 
which  evinces  his  almost  universal  reading  and  profound  learning.  He  died  at  Warrington,  in  Devon- 
shire, in  1676. 


242 


APPENDIX. 


SIR  RICHARD  MORRISON,  KM., 

An  Architect  of  some  repute  in  Ireland,  was  born  about  the  year  1767.  He  became  the  pupil  of  a 
Dublin  architect  and  obtained  a  Government  appointment  in  the  Ordnance,  which  he  was  obliged  to 
relinquish  in  consequence  of  reductions  in  that  establishment.  He  then  resumed  his  practice  as  an 
architect,  and  erected  a  great  number  of  buildings.  He  was  knighted  during  the  Vice-royalty  of  Kurl 
de  Grey,  and  was  President  of  the  Irish  Institute  of  Architects.  He  died  Oct.  31,  18 1'.'. 

SIR    RODERICK    IMPEY    MURCHISON,  KNT.,  K.G.C.Si.  S.,  M.A.,  D.C.L., 
F.R.S.,  V.P.G.S.,  F.R.G.S.,  F.L.S.,  ETC. 

Celebrated  Geologist,  born  at  Tarradale  in  Ross-shire,  in  1792.  He  was  educated  at  Durham 
Grammar  School  and  at  the  Military  College,  Marlow,  where  he  remained  till  1805,  when  he  received 
a  commission  in  the  oGth  Foot,  and  carried  the  colours  of  his  regiment  at  the  battle  of  Vimiera.  He 
quitted  the  army  in  1815,  and  after  some  years  of  foreign  travel,  he  devoted  himself  to  science,  and 
undertook  extensive  geological  tours  through  the  greater  portion  of  Europe,  during  a  period  of  thirty- 
five  years,  which  have  resulted  in  the  greatest  advantage  to  the  science  of  Geology.  His  first  great 
work,  completed  after  seven  years  of  hard  labour,  was  the  "  Silurian  System,"  which  is  of  high  repute 
among  Geologists,  and  obtained  for  him  the  Copley  Medal.  In  1825  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the 
Geological  Society,  and  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1826 ;  of  the  former  he  discharged  the  duties  of 
Secretary  for  five  years  and  was  elected  President  in  1831,  1832,  1842,  and  1843.  He  was  not  only 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Geographical  Society,  but  has  always  been  on  its  council,  and  has  presided 
over  it  for  seven  years.  The  Universities  of  Cambridge  and  Durham  have  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  M.A.  He  is  also  a  Member  of  most  of  the  Foreign  Societies.  He  was  knighted  in 
1846.  From  the  Emperor  Nicholas  he  received,  in  1845,  the  decoration  of  the  Second  Class  of 
St.  Anne,  and  the  Grand  Cross  of  the  Order  of  St.  Stanislaus,  for  his  Geological  Survey  of  the 
Russian  Empire,  which  orders  he  is  now  permitted  to  wear.  In  1855  Sir  Roderick  became  Director 
General  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Great  Britain,  including  the  Direction  of  the  Government  School 
of  Mines.  A  condensed  view  of  all  his  labours  in  clearing  away  the  obscurities  in  which  the  order 
and  relations  of  the  oldest  rocks  was  involved,  is  given  in  the  last  edition  (1859)  of  his  "  Siluria." 

LIEUT.  GEN.  SIR  WILLIAM  FRANCIS  PATRICK  NAPIER,  K.C.B. 

This  celebrated  Military  Historian  was  born  in  1785,  at  Castletown,  in  Ireland.  He  entered  the 
army  as  ensign  in  1800,  obtained  a  lieutenancy  in  1801,  a  company  in  1804,  and  his  majority  in 
1811.  He  became  lieutenant- colonel  in  1813,  colonel  in  1830,  major-general  in  1841,  and  lieutenant- 
general  in  1851.  He  served  at  the  siege  of  Copenhagen  in  1807,  and  in  Sir  John  Moore's  campaign 
in  Spain  in  1808-9  ;  and  was  present  at  most  of  the  engagements  in  the  Peninsular  War.  He  received 
the  gold  medal  with  two  clasps  for  his  services  in  the  battles  of  Salamanca,  the  Nivelle,  and  the  Nive ; 
and  the  silver  medal  with  three  clasps  for  Busaco,  Fuentes  de  Onoro,  and  Orthes.  He  was  appointed 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Island  of  Guernsey  in  1842,  and  was  created  a  Knight  Commander  of  the 
Order  of  the  Bath  in  1848.  He  commenced  his  career  as  an  author  in  1828,  by  the  publication  of 
the  "History  of  the  War  in  the  Peninsula  and  the  South  of  France,  from  1807  to  1814."  The 
volumes  of  this  work  came  out  in  succession,  the  sixth  and  last  being  published  in  1840.  This  history 
has  passed  through  several  editions,  and  is  now  a  standard  work.  He  also  published  an  account  of 
his  brother's  "  Administration  of  Scinde,"  and  other  works. 


SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON,  KNT.,  M.A.,  P.R.S., 

Was  born  at  Woolsthorpe,  in  the  parish  of  Colsterworth,  in  Lincolnshire,  on  Dec.  25,  1642,  O.S.    At 
the  age  of  twelve  he  was  sent  to  the  grammar-school  at  Grantham ;    from  whence  he  entered  of 


APPENDIX. 


243 


Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  1660,  and  was  admitted  subsizer  in  1661  and  scholar  in  1664.  In 
1665  he  took  the  degree  of  B.A.,  and  about  the  same  time  stood  for  a  law  fellowship  in  his  college, 
which  was  given  to  his  competitor  (with  whom  he  was  declared  of  equal  merit)  as  being  the  senior. 
In  1667  he  was  elected  one  of  the  junior  Fellows  of  his  college  and  took  his  M.A.  degree,  and  became 
a  senior  Fellow  in  1668.  In  1669  he  was  appointed  Lucasian  Professor,  and  in  the  same  year,  at  the 
request  of  the  Royal  Society,  he  presented  them  with  one  of  the  two  reflecting  Telescopes  he 
had  made,  and  which  still  remains  in  the  library  of  that  Society,  of  which  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  on 
Jan.  11,  1669,  and  President  in  1703,  an  honour  continued  to  him  till  his  death.  In  1675  Newton 
obtained  of  Charles  II.  a  dispensation  from  taking  orders,  that  he  might  retain  his  fellowship; 
and  so  poor  was  he  at  this  time,  that  the  Royal  Society  remitted,  at  his  request,  the  weekly 
payment  of  Is.  In  1688  Newton  was  elected  one  of  the  Members  for  the  University  in  the  Conven- 
tion Parliament.  In  1695  he  was  appointed  Warden  of  the  Mint,  and  Master  in  1699,  when  he 
vacated  the  Lucasian  chair.  In  1699  he  was  chosen  Associate  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Paris. 
In  1705  he  was  knighted  by  Queen  Anne,  and  in  the  same  year,  in  a  contest  for  the  representation 
of  the  University,  he  lost  his  election,  and  never  afterwards  sat  in  parliament.  His  discoveries  on  the 
unequal  refrangibility  of  light  were  made  about  1664,  and  the  "  Principia,"  on  which  his  reputation 
as  the  greatest  discoverer  in  physical  science  is  founded,  appeared  in  May  1687,  at  the  expense  of  the 
Royal  Society.  He  died  on  March  20,  1726-7. 

SIR  GEORGE  NICHOLLS,  K.C.B., 

The  Originator  and  Superintendent  of  the  present  system  of  Poor  Law  Administration  in  England 
and  Ireland,  was  born  at  St.  Kevern,  in  Cornwall,  in  1781.  He  was  educated  at  Helstone  Grammar 
School,  and  at  Newton  Abbot,  Devonshire,  and  entered  the  naval  service  of  the  East  India  Company 
at  fifteen.  In  1809  he  commanded  a  ship,  and  quitted  the  service  in  1815.  In  1834  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  Commissioners  under  the  Poor  Law  Amendment  Act.  In  1838  the  legislature  passed 
"An  Act  for  the  more  effectual  Relief  of  the  Poor  in  Ireland,"  founded  upon  information  supplied  by 
him ;  and  the  working  of  the  new  system  was  entrusted  to  him  and  four  assistant-commissioners. 
After  a  few  years  Mr.  Nicholls  returned  to  his  position  in  the  administration  of  the  English  Poor  Law ; 
and  npon  the  new  organisation  of  the  Poor  Law  Board  accepted  the  office  of  Secretary.  In  1848  he 
was  made  C.B.,  and  upon  his  retirement  from  office  in  1851.  had  the  honour  conferred  upon  him  of 
Knight  Commander  of  the  Bath.  His  several  works  on  the  History  of  the  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish 
Poor  Law  respectively,  exhibit  the  whole  course  of  legislation  on  this  important  branch  of  social 
economy. 

SIR  NICHOLAS  HARRIS  NICOLAS,  K.H.,  F.S.A., 

Was  born  in  1799.  He  entered  the  Navy,  and  attained  the  rank  of  Lieutenant  in  1815.  His  employ- 
ment in  the  service  having  ceased  at  the  close  of  the  war,  he  applied  himself  to  antiquarian  literature, 
in  which  his  first  production  was  "  The  Life  of  William  Davison,  Secretary  of  State,  and  Privy  Coun- 
cillor to  Queen  Elizabeth."  He  then  entered  himself  of  the  Middle  Temple,  and  was  called  to  the 
bar  in  1825.  He  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  a  Member  of  the  Council, 
and  became  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  "  Archseologia."  Of  the  numerous  works  of  which  he  was 
the  editor  or  author,  the  most  useful  is  his  "  Notitia  Historica,"  which  he  afterwards  remodelled  for 
"  Lardner's  Cabinet  Cyclopaadia,"  under  the  title  of  "  The  Chronology  of  History ;  containing  Tables, 
Calculations,  and  Statements,  indispensable  for  ascertaining  the  Dates  of  Historical  Events,  and  of 
Public  and  Private  Documents,  from  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present  Time,"  (1835).  He  also 
published  the  statutes  of  various  Orders  of  Knighthood,  for  which,  in  1831,  he  was  made  a  Knight 
of  the  Hanoverian  Guelphic  Order,  and  in  1832  Chancellor  of  the  Ionian  Order  of  St.  Michael  and 
St.  George.  He  died  on  Aug.  3, 1848. 


31 


244  APPENDIX. 


SIR  WILLIAM  BROOKE  O'SCHAUGHNESSY,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S., 

Born  at  Limerick  in  1809,  and  educated  at  Edinburgh  University,  where  he  graduated  in  Medi- 
cine. At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  entered  the  East  India  Service  as  Assistant  Surgeon,  and  in  1833 
received  a  civil  appointment.  He  was  afterwards  appointed  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Medical 
College  at  Calcutta,  and  Chemical  Examiner  to  the  Government.  To  him  the  Government  of  India 
is  indebted  for  the  means  of  communication,  by  the  electric  telegraph,  between  Calcutta,  Agra, 
Bombay,  and  Madras,  a  distance  of  4,000  miles  ;  which,  considering  the  local  difficulties  he  had  to 
surmount,  and  perhaps  not  the  least  was  the  sudden  and  simultaneous  training  of  300  persons,  to  be 
employed  in  the  different  offices  connected  with  the  working  department,  have  no  parallel  in  any 
other  country.  He  commenced  laying  down  the  line  in  Nov.  1853,  and  in  Feb.  1856,  the  extent  of 
the  telegraphic  lines  had  reached  4,000  miles,  at  an  average  cost  of  £50  a  mile.  In  1856  he  returned 
to  England,  and  was  made  a  Knight  Commander  of  the  Bath  for  his  most  important  services,  which 
have  not  been  surpassed  by  any  public  enterprise  of  modern  times. 

SIR  FRANCIS  PALGRAVE,  KNT. 

The  surname  of  this  Antiquary  was  originally  Cohen.  He  was  born  in  London,  in  1788.  In  1827 
he  was  called  to  the  bar  by  the  Society  of  the  Inner  Temple.  He  edited  the  "  Parliamentary  Writs," 
Tinder  the  direction  of  the  Commissioners  of  Public  Records,  published  in  1827-34.  In  1831  he  was 
elected  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  and  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries.  In  1832  he  was  made  a  Knight 
of  the  Guelphic  Order  for  his  services  in  connection  with  the  constitutional  and  parliamentary  history 
of  England,  and  was  knighted.  In  the  same  year  he  published  his  "Rise  and  Progress  of  the  English 
Commonwealth ;  Anglo-Saxon  Period,  containing  the  Policy  and  the  Institutions  arising  out  of  the 
Laws  and  Usages  which  prevailed  before  the  Conquest,"  two  vols.,  4to.  In  1833  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  Commissioners  to  inquire  into  the  existing  state  of  the  Municipal  Corporations  of  England 
and  Wales.  The  Commissioners  issued  a  general  report,  upon  which  the  Municipal  Reform  Act  was 
founded.  From  this  report  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  dissented,  and  published  an  unavailing  Protest. 
He  was  soon  after  appointed  Deputy  Keeper  of  the  Public  Records,  an  office  which  he  now  holds. 


REAR  ADMIRAL  SIR  WILLIAM  EDWARD  PARRY,  KNT.,  D.C.L., 

Was  born  in  1790  at  Bath ;  in  the  grammar  school  of  which  city  he  was  educated.  Preferring  the 
navy  to  the  medical  profession,  for  which  he  was  originally  intended,  in  June,  1803,  he  was 
appointed  a  first-class  volunteer  on  board  the  Ville  de  Paris.  In  1806  he  was  made  a  midshipman, 
and  a  lieutenant  in  1810.  In  1818  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Alexander,  under  the 
orders  of  Captain  Ross  in  the  Isabella,  for  the  discovery  of  a  north-west  passage.  Both  vessels 
returned  in  the  same  year  without  having  effected  their  object,  much  to  the  disappointment  of  Lieu- 
tenant Parry.  In  1819  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  a  second  expedition  in  the  Hecla  with 
the  Griper  under  his  orders.  On  September  4  they  penetrated  within  the  Arctic  Circle,  and  became 
entitled  to  the  reward  of  £5000.  On  his  return  in  November  1820  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
commander,  and  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1821  and  1824  Captain  Parry  had 
the  command  of  two  other  arctic  expeditions,  which  were  unsuccessful.  During  his  absence  from 
England  on  the  former  of  these  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  post-captain,  and  in  1823  was 
appointed  Acting  Hydrographer  to  the  Admiralty.  In  1825  he  was  made  Hydrographer  to  the 
Admiralty,  the  duties  of  which  office  he  performed  till  1826,  when  he  was  again  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  Hecla,  and  sailed  from  the  Thames  in  April  1827.  In  this  voyage  he  attained  the 
latitude  of  82°  45',  the  nearest  point  to  the  North  Pole  ever  reached.  Being  unable  to  proceed 
farther  he  returned,  and  arrived  in  London  in  September  of  the  same  year,  when  he  resumed  his 


APPENDIX. 


245 


duties  as  hydrographer,  which  he  was  obliged  by  ill  health  to  resign.  In  1822  he  received  the 
honour  of  knighthood,  and  had  the  degree  of  D.C.L.  conferred  upon  him  by  the  University  of  Oxford. 
In  1837  he  was  appointed  to  organize  the  Packet  Service  between  Liverpool  and  Ireland,  and  Comp- 
troller of  Steam  Machinery  for  the  Royal  Navy.  He  then  retired  from  active  service,  and  was 
appointed  Captain-Superintendent  of  the  Royal  Clarence  Yard,  and  of  the  Naval  Hospital  at  Haslar. 
In  1852  he  attained  the  rank  of  Rear  Admiral  of  the  White,  and  in  1853  was  appointed  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Greenwich  Hospital,  an  oiSce  which  he  held  till  his  death,  on  July  7,  1855. 


LIEUT.-GENERAL  SIR  CHARLES  WILLIAM  PASLET,  R.E.,  K.C.B.,  D.C.L., 

Entered  the  army  as  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  Artillery  in  1797,  and  in  the  following  year  exchanged 
into  the  Engineers.  He  became  first  lieutenant  in  1799,  and  captain  in  1805.  From  1806  to  1809 
he  was  engaged  in  active  service  at  Gaeta,  Maida,  Copenhagen,  Corunna,  Walcheren,  Flushing 
(where  he  was  wounded),  and  in  the  Peninsula.  He  obtained  the  rank  of  Brevet  Major  in  1812, 
Brevet  Lieutenant- Colonel  in  1813,  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  1814,  Major-General  in  1841,  Lieutenant- 
General  in  1851,  and  Colonel-Commandant  of  the  Royal  Engineers  in  1853.  The  University  of 
Oxford  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.,  in  1844,  and  he  was  created  a  Knight 
Commander  of  the  Bath  in  1845.  He  has  received  the  silver  war  medal  with  two  clasps  for  the 
battles  of  Maida  and  Corunna,  and  the  Peninsular  medal.  He  is  now  Inspector  General  of  Railways. 
He  is  the  author  of  numerous  works  on  military  and  scientific  subjects. 

SIR    JOSEPH    PAXTON,    M.P.,    F.L.S.,    ETC., 

Was  born  at  Milton  Bryant,  near  Woburn,  Bedfordshire,  in  1803,  and  was  educated  at  Woburn 
Grammar  School.  Sir  Joseph  is  one  of  the  many  remarkable  "self-made  men"  of  this  country. 
From  the  humble  position  of  an  ordinary  gardener  at  Chatsworth,  he  obtained  by  his  manifest  abilities, 
not  only  the  patronage  but  the  friendship  of  the  late  Duke  of  Devonshire,  who  lived  to  see  his 
protege  honoured  and  received  by  royalty  with  a  cordiality  of  feeling  such  as  is  rarely  exhibited 
towards  a  commoner  in  any  country.  The  late  Duke  of  Devonshire  has  most  nobly  recorded,  we 
believe,  in  his  autobiography,  words  to  the  effect :  That  on  all  occasions  he  had  foimd  the  advice  of 
Paxton  that  of  a  true  friend.  Dame  Fortune  has  hitherto  not  allowed  a  cloud  to  cast  a  shadow  over 
Paxton,  one  of  her  deservedly  most  favoured  children.  Brought  up  in  the  conservatories  at  Chats- 
worth,  his  suggestion,  at  a  moment  of  difficulty,  respecting  the  style  of  building  for  the  National 
Exhibition  of  1851,  was  most  fortunate  for  the  public  and  happy  in  its  design.  It  was  the  most 
natural  for  a  man  who  eschewed  bricks  and  mortar.  It  met  with  universal  approbation  and  obtained 
for  him  the  honour  of  knighthood ;  and  in  1854  he  was  elected  M.P.  for  Coventry.  The  Crystal 
Palace — the  eighth  wonder  of  the  world — at  Sydenham,  would  never  have  been  built  had  it  not  been 
for  the  exertions  of  Mr.  Francis  Fuller  and  those  who  came  forward  to  purchase,  at  the  suggestion  of 
Mr.  Leech,  the  building  of  the  Exhibition  of  1851.  Here  again  did  Sir  Joseph  Paxton  shew  his 
master  mind ;  and  however  many  may  be  the  faults  committed  in  the  erection  of  The  Crystal  Palace, 
it  stands  alone  as  one  of  the  most  marvellous  buildings  of  the  age.  His  great  design  of  a  conserva- 
tory roadway  round  London,  cleansed  by  monster  fountains,  remains  to  be  accomplished.  Grant 
Sir  Joseph  Paxton  a  few  millions,  and  there  ends  the  difficulty  ! ! 

SIR  SAMUEL  MORTON  PETO,  BART., 

The  constructor  of  many  of  the  greatest  engineering  works  of  the  present  century,  was  born  at 
Woking,  in  1809.  He  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of  a  builder's  business  during  the  seven  years 
he  served  in  the  several  departments  of  his  uncle's  establishment.  In  1830,  on  the  death  of  his 
uncle,  Mr.  Henry  Peto,  he  succeeded  to  a  moiety  of  his  uncle's  very  large  business,  his  partner  being 
Mr.  Grissell  (also  a  nephew).  This  partnership  was  dissolved  in  1845  ;  and  he  has  since  constructed 


APPENDIX. 


a  large  portion  of  the  railway  works  in  England  and  a  vast  railway  in  Canada,  as  well  as  the  Norwe- 
gian Grand  Trunk  Railway  and  the  Royal  Danish  line.  Upon  the  opening  of  the  latter  in  1854  he 
received  from  the  hands  of  the  King  of  Denmark  the  Order  of  the  Dnnebrog.  At  the  close  of  1854 
he  undertook  gratuitously  the  construction  of  the  Balaclava  Rail  way  in  the  Crimea,  originated  by  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  and  in  consequence  relinquished  his  seat  for  Norwich,  which  he  had  held  since 
1847.  In  appreciation  of  this  patriotic  service  he  was  created  a  baronet. 

SIR  WILLIAM  PETTY,  KOT.,  M.D.,  F.R.C.P.,  F.R.S.,  P.R.I.A., 

Born  at  Rumsey,  in  Hampshire,  and  educated  at  the  grammar-school  there.  In  1649  he  was 
elected,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Parliament,  to  a  Fellowship  at  Brazen-nose  College,  Oxford, 
made  void  by  the  ejection  of  the  Royalists,  and  at  the  same  time  received  the  honorary  degree  nt 
M.D.  In  1650  he  was  appointed  to  the  Anatomical  Professorship  in  that  University ;  and  in  tin- 
following  year  succeeded  Dr.  Knight  in  the  Professorship  of  Music  at  Gresham  College.  In  1652  he 
was  appointed  Physician  to  the  Army  in  Ireland,  and  subsequently  became  Secretary  to  Henry 
Cromwell  and  the  three  following  Viceroys  of  that  country.  In  1655  he  was  elected  Fellow  of  the 
College  of  Physicians  of  London.  In  1661  he  was  appointed  a  Commissioner  of  the  Court  of  Claims, 
in  Ireland,  by  Charles  II.,  who  conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of  knighthood.  On  the  institution  of 
the  Royal  Society,  he  was  nominated  on  the  Council.  In  1666  he  published  his  "  Verbum  Sapienti ;" 
and  in  1684  he  established  a  Philosophical  Society  at  Dublin,  in  imitation  of  the  Royal  Society,  of 
which  he  was  elected  President.  His  "Political  Arithmetic "  was  the  first  work  on  Politico! 
Economy  which  appeared  in  this  country.  From  him  have  sprung  the  noble  family  of  Lansdoune. 
He  died  on  Dec.  16,  1687,  having  acquired  a  very  large  fortune  by  his  talents. 

DR.  LYON  PLAYFAIR,  C.B.,  Pii.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.,  F.C.S. 

He  was  born  in  Bengal  in  1819.  He  was  educated  at  St.  Andrew's,  and  in  1834  entered  himself 
as  a  pupil  in  chemistry  under  Professor  Graham  in  Glasgow  University.  In  1835  he  went  out  to  India, 
and  on  his  return  resumed  his  studies  under  Professor  Graham,  who  was  then  Professor  of  Chemist  ry 
in  University  College,  London.  In  1838  he  was  attracted  to  Giessen  by  the  fame  of  Liebig,  and  took 
the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  that  University.  On  his  return  to  England  he  published,  a 
translation  of  Liebig's  "  Reports  on  the  Progress  of  Organic  Chemistry."  In  1843  he  accepted  tin- 
post  of  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  the  Royal  Institution  of  Manchester.  While  he  held  this  office  ho 
was  placed  on  the  Commission  for  Investigating  the  State  of  Health  of  the  large  Towns  of  England. 
He  was  subsequently  appointed  Chemist  to  the  Museum  of  Economic  Geology.  In  1848  he  was 
elected  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1851  he  was  appointed  Special  Commissioner  to  communi- 
cate with  Local  Committees  on  the  Arrangements  preliminary  to  the  opening  of  the  Great  Exhibition. 
For  his  services  in  connection  with  the  Great  Exhibition  he  was  made  a  Companion  of  the  Bath,  and 
received  the  appointment  of  Gentlemen  Usher  in  the  Prince  Consort's  Household.  In  1853  he  was 
appointed  joint  Secretary  of  the  Government  Department  of  Science  and  Art,  and  in  1855  sole 
Secretary.  In  1858  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  which 
office  he  now  holds. 

* 

SIR  ROBERT  KER  PORTER,  K.C.H., 

Was  born  at  Durham  about  1775.  When  nine  or  ten  years  of  age  he  was  spending  the  evening  -with 
the  celebrated  Flora  Macdonald,  who  seeing  him  intently  gazing  on  a  battle-piece  of  '45,  explained  to 
him  all  its  details,  and  from  that  time  he  was  incessantly  sketching  battles.  About  1790  his  mot  her 
introduced  him  to  Mr.  Benjamin  West, R. A.,  who  procured  for  him  his  admission  as  a  student  into  the 


APPENDIX.  247 


Royal  Academy.  In  1792  he  received  a  commission  to  paint  "Moses"  and  "Aaron,"  for  Shoreditch 
Church.  His  most  extraordinary  productions  were  his  battle-pieces,  of  which  the  "  Storming  of 
Seringapatam,"  an  immense  picture,  120  feet  long,  he  is  said  to  have  been  only  six  weeks  in  painting, 
and  yet  the  execution  was  in  no  part  neglected.  This  picture  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  a  friend's 
warehouse.  In  1804  he  went  to  Russia,  and  was  appointed  Historical  Painter  to  the  Emperor,  and 
in  1811  he  married  a  Russian  Princess,  who  survived  him.  In  1813  he  published  "  An  Account  of 
the  Russian  Campaign,"  and  was  knighted  by  the  Prince  Regent  in  the  same  year.  From  1817  to 
1820  he  travelled  in  Asia,  an  account  of  which  he  published  under  the  title  of  "  Travels  in  Georgia, 
Persia,  Armenia,  Ancient  Babylon,  etc.,"  in  1821-2.  In  1836  Sir  Robert  was  created  Knight  Com- 
mander of  the  Hanoverian  Order  by  William  IV.  In  1841  he  made  his  last  visit  to  St.  Petersburgh, 
on  his  return  from  Venezuela,  where  he  had  filled  the  office  of  British  Consul.  On  the  3rd  of  May, 
1842,  he  was  struck  with  apoplexy,  and  expired  on  the  following  morning. 


SIR  UVEDALE  PRICE,  BAET., 

Was  born  in  1 747,  of  an  ancient  Welsh  family  settled  at  Foxley,  in  Herefordshire.  He  was  educated 
at  Oxford.  The  work  on  which  his  reputation  mainly  rests  was  "  An  Essay  on  the  Picturesque,  as 
compared  with  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful ;"  and  on  the  "  Use  of  Studying  Pictures  for  the  Purpose 
of  Improving  Real  Landscape,"  published  in  1794,  which  went  through  three  editions.  He  was  also 
the  author  of  several  works  on  Landscape  Gardening,  and  in  1827  he  published  "  An  Essay  on  the 
Modern  Pronunciation  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Languages."  In  1828  he  was  created  a  Baronet ;  and 
in  the  following  year,  on  Sep.  11,  he  died  at  his  residence,  at  Foxley. 


SIR    JOHN    PRINGLE,    BART.,    M.D.,    P.R.S., 

Born  in  Roxburghshire  in  1707.  After  having  received  his  early  classical  education  under  a  private 
tutor,  he  entered  the  University  of  St.  Andrew's  and  kept  the  ordinary  number  of  terms  there.  In 
1727  he  removed  to  Edinburgh  to  qualify  himself  for  the  medical  profession  ;  but  he  left  that 
university  in  the  following  year  and  proceeded  to  Leyden,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Physic  in  1730.  Thence  he  proceeded  to  Paris  where  he  completed  his  medical  studies,  and  then 
settled  in  Edinburgh  as  a  physician.  In  1734  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  in 
that  university.  In  1742  he  was  nominated  Physician  to  the  Earl  of  Stair,  at  that  time  Commander 
of  the  Allied  Armies  of  England  and  Austria ;  and  was  afterwards  appointed  by  the  Duke  of  Cum- 
berland Physician  General  to  His  Majesty's  Forces  in  the  Low  Countries,  whereupon  he  resigned 
his  Professorship.  In  1752  he  published  his  Treatise  "On  the  Diseases  of  the  Army,"  which  passed 
through  seven  editions,  and  was  translated  into  the  French,  German,  and  Italian  languages.  In 
1745  he  was  recalled  from  Flanders,  and  accompanied  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  in  suppressing  the 
Scotch  Rebellion;  and  in  the  same  year  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1750  he 
obtained  the  Copley  Medal ;  and  in  1753  was  elected  on  the  Council.  In  this  year  he  relinquished 
his  appointment  in  the  army,  and  was  admitted  a  Licentiate  of  the  College  of  Physicians.  In  1761, 
soon  after  the  accession  of  George  III.,  he  was  appointed  Physician  to  the  Queen's  Household,  and 
in  1763  Physician  Extraordinary  to  Her  Majesty;  and  in  the  same  year  was  chosen  a  Member  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Haarlem,  and  a  Fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians,  London.  In  1766 
he  was  elected  a  Member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Sciences  at  Gottingen,  and  created  a  Baronet  by 
George  III.  In  1772  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  in  1774  was  appointed 
Physician  Extraordinary  to  His  Majesty.  In  1776  he  became  a  member  of  several  foreign  societies. 
In  1778  he  succeeded  Linnaeus  as  Foreign  Member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Paris,  and  was 
also  elected  Foreign  Member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  and  Belles  Lettres  at  Naples  ;  and  in  1781 
a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries,  Edinburgh.  In  1778  he  resigned  the  Presidency  of 


248 


APPENDIX. 


the  Royal  Society,  in  consequence  of  its  having  been  proposed  to  him  by  some  members,  whose 
hostility  against  Franklin,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  American  Revolution,  was  carried  to  an  absurd 
extent,  to  advocate  the  substitution  of  knobs  instead  of  points  on  electric  conductors  as  recommended 
by  Franklin,  and  among  the  number  was  their  patron  George  III.  Sir  John  hinted  that  the  laws  of 
nature  were  unalterable  at  royal  pleasure  ;  whereupon  it  was  intimated  to  him  that  a  President  of 
the  Royal  Society  entertaining  such  an  opinion  ought  to  resign,  which  he  accordingly  did.  In 
1781  Sir  John  removed  to  Edinburgh,  and  presented  to  the  College  of  Physicians  there  three 
manuscript  volumes  in  folio,  on  condition  that  they  should  not  be  printed.  In  the  same  year  he 
returned  to  London,  where  he  died  on  January  18,  1782. 

SIR  HENRY  RAEBURN,  KNT.,  R.A.,  F.R.S.E., 

A  Portrait  Painter,  of  great  eminence  in  his  time,  born  at  Stockbridge,  near  Edinburgh,  in  1756. 
He  was  originally  apprenticed  to  a  goldsmith,  and  during  the  period  of  his  apprenticeship  was  so 
successful  in  painting  miniatures,  that  he  obtained  considerable  reputation  by  them,  and  usually 
finished  two  a  week.  His  master,  wishing  to  promote  his  success  as  a  miniature  painter,  cancelled 
his  indentures,  receiving,  as  an  equivalent  for  the  period  he  had  to  serve,  a  part  of  the  young  painter's 
earnings.  After  this  agreement  terminated,  he  discontinued  miniature  painting  and  took  portraits 
in  oil,  and  gained  a  very  extensive  practice.  About  1780  he  repaired  to  London,  and  was  much 
noticed  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  by  whose  advice  he  visited  Italy,  where  he  remained  two  years, 
carefully  studying  the  works  of  the  great  Masters.  In  1787  he  returned  to  Edinburgh,  where  he 
soon  became  the  chief  portrait  painter,  and  was  made  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  that  city.  In 
1812  he  was  elected  an  Associate,  and  in  1815  a  Member  of  the  Royal  Academy.  In  1822  he  received 
the  honour  of  knighthood  from  George  IV.,  at  Hopetown  House,  and  in  the  following  year  was 
appointed  Portrait  Painter  to  his  Majesty  for  Scotland.  He  was  a  Member  of  the  Imperial  Academy 
of  Florence,  and  of  the  South  Carolina  and  New  York  Academies.  He  died  on  July  8,  1823. 

SIR  THOMAS  STAMFORD  RAFFLES,  KNT., 

Was  born  at  sea,  off  Jamaica,  in  1781.  At  fourteen,  after  having  been  at  school  only  two  years,  he 
obtained  a  Clerkship  in  the  India- House,  and  so  improved  his  education  by  private  study,  that  his 
abilities  obtained  for  him,  in  1805,  the  Assistant-Secretaryship  of  Pulo  Penang.  In  1806  he  was 
appointed  principal  Secretary  and  Registrar ;  and  in  1811  Lieutenant-General  of  Java,  the  expedition 
against  which  had  been  planned  by  him.  In  1816  he  returned  to  England,  and  prepared  for  the  press 
his  "History  of  Java,"  which  appeared  in  2  vols.  in  1817.  In  the  same  year  he  was  knighted,  and 
obtained  the  appointment  to  the  Residency  of  Bencoolen.  After  Java  had  been  resigned  to  the 
Dutch  he  was,  in  1819,  appointed  to  the  goveinment  of  Singapore,  which  had  been  placed  under 
British  protection  by  his  advice.  In  1824  he  returned  to  England,  from  ill  health.  His  collection  in 
Natural  History  he  gave  to  the  Zoological  Museum  in  Bruton  Street,  of  which,  in  conjunction  with 
Sir  H.  Davy,  he  formed  the  plan,  and  established.  He  died  on  July  5,  1826. 


LIEUT.-COL.  SIR  HENRY  CRESWICKE  RAWLINSON,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S., 

Born  at  Chadlington  in  Oxfordshire,  in  1810.  He  entered  the  East  India  Company's  Military 
Service  in  1826,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  Major  in  1836,  and  Lieut.-Col.  in  1850.  On  Jan.  1, 1833,  he 
transmitted  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Asiatic  Society  a  specimen  of  liis  copy  and  reading  of  the  Behistun 
inscription  in  Kurdistan,  in  the  cuneiform  character ;  and  in  1839  he  sent  a  precis  of  the  whole 
inscription,  which  was  published  in  1846,  and  the  Babylonian  version  in  1851.  In  1843  he  was 
appointed  political  Resident  at  Baghdad,  where  he  studied  the  inscriptions  of  Nineveh.  In  1844  he 
received  the  commission  of  Consul  there,  and  Consul-General  in  1851.  He  was  elected  a  Fellow  of 


APPENDIX. 


249 


the  Royal  Society  in  1850,  and  in  the  same  year  received  from  the  University  of  Oxford  the  honorary 
degree  of  D.C.L.  In  1850  he  was  appointed  a  Crown  Director  of  the  East  India  Company,  and 
created  a  K.C.B.  In  1858  he  was  elected  M.P.  for  Reigate,  but  shortly  after  resigned  his  seat  on 
accepting  the  office  of  a  Member  of  the  Council  of  India.  In  1859  he  was  appointed  Her  Majesty's 
Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the  Court  of  the  Shah,  and  was  granted  the 
rank  of  Major-General  in  Persia.  Besides  his  numerous  papers  in  the  Journals  of  the  Asiatic  and 
Geographical  Societies,  he  published,  in  1852,  "  Outline  of  the  History  of  Assyria,  &c. ;"  and  in  1855, 
"Memorandum  on  the  Publication  of  the  Cuneiform  Inscriptions." 


MAJOR-GENERAL  SIR  WILLIAM  REID,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S., 

Was  born,  in  1791,  at  Kinglassie  in  Fifeshire.  He  was  educated  in  the  Royal  Military  Academy  at 
Woolwich,  and  entered  the  army  as  Lieutenant  of  Royal  Engineers  in  1809.  He  served  under  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  in  the  Peninsula,  and  after  the  peace  under  General  Lambert  in  America,  and 
again  under  the  Duke  in  Belgium.  In  1816,  having  attained  the  rank  of  Captain,  he  served  in  the 
expedition  against  Algiers.  For  some  time  afterwards  he  was  Adjutant  of  the  corps  of  Sappers  and 
Miners,  and  attended  the  lectures  of  the  Professors  of  the  Royal  Institution ;  from  whose  lectures 
he  derived  that  knowledge  which  afterwards  distinguished  him  as  a  man  of  science.  In  1839  he 
was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1838  he  had  attained  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel, 
and  was  appointed  Governor  of  Bermuda,  and  in  1846  Governor  of  the  Windward  Islands.  In 
1849  he  was  appointed  Governor  of  Woolwich ;  and  in  1850  he  directed  the  officers  of  Engineers 
and  the  Sappers  and  Miners  in  their  operations  at  the  Great  Exhibition,  and  was  appointed  Chairman 
of  the  Executive  Committee  on  the  resignation  of  Mr.  R.  Stephenson.  For  his  unremitting  atten- 
tion to  the  duties  of  this  office  until  the  close  of  the  Exhibition,  he  received  the  honour  of  K.C.B. 
In  1815  he  was  appointed  Governor  of  Malta ;  and  in  1856  attained  the  rank  of  Major-General.  To 
this  scientific  officer  we  are  indebted  for  "  An  Attempt  to  Develope  the  Law  of  Storms  by  means  of 
Facts  arranged  according  to  Place  and  Time,"  which  was  published  in  1838,  and  was  followed,  in 
1849,  by  another  work  on  "  The  Progress  of  the  Development  of  the  Law  of  Storms,  and  of  the 
Variable  Winds,"  etc.  He  died  Oct.  31st,  1858.  A  monument  has  been  erected  to  his  memory  at 
Bermuda,  of  which  island  he  was  Governor  from  1839  to  1846. 


SIR  JOHN  RENNIE,  KNT.,  F.R.S., 

Is  the  second  son  of  Mr.  John  Rennie,  the  eminent  civil  engineer  and  manufacturer  of  machinery. 
Having  entered  into  partnership  with  his  elder  brother,  George,  they  completed  the  unfinished 
great  undertakings  of  their  father,  and,  among  others,  the  New  London  Bridge.  They  also  executed 
on  their  own  account  numerous  engineering  works  in  this  country  and  abroad.  In  1845  this  part- 
nership was  dissolved,  and  Sir  John  has  since  practised  as  an  architect.  In  1823  he  was  elected  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  received  the  honour  of  knighthood  from  William  IV  on  the  opening 
of  London  Bridge,  an  honour  which  engineers,  by  a  tacit  understanding  among  themselves,  generally 
decline  to  accept. 

SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS,  P.R.A.,  D.C.L.,  F.S.A., 

The  Founder  of  the  British  School  of  Painting,  was  born  at  Plympton,  in  Devonshire,  on  July 
16,  1723.  In  1741  he  was  placed  under  Hudson,  as  his  preceptor  in  the  art  of  painting,  by  whom, 
through  jealousy,  he  was  dismissed  in  1743.  In  1749  he  visited  Rome  for  the  first  time,  where  he 
spent  three  years,  returning  to  England  in  1752.  In  1760  was  formed  the  design  of  exhibiting  the 
works  of  British  artists,  which  resulted  in  the  foundation  of  the  Royal  Academy  in  1768.  To  this 
exhibition,  opened  at  a  large  room  belonging  to  the  Society  of  Arts  in  the  Strand,  Sir  Joshua  sent 

__ 


250 


APPENDIX. 


four  of  his  pictures  ;  and  to  the  second,  in  1761,  at  Spring  Gardens,  he  sent  five.  Ho  was  clc.-ed 
President  of  the  Royal  Academy  on  ite  institution  in  1768,  having,  it  is  said,  stipulated  for  the 
honour  of  knighthood,  which  he  obtained  in  that  year.  His  "  Discourses"  on  art,  which  were  volun- 
teered by  him  on  his  election,  continue  to  be  the  best  body  of  critical  instruction  the  artist  possesses. 
From  the  opening  of  the  Royal  Academy  to  1790,  inclusive,  he  sent  no  less  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty-four  pictures.  In  1773  he  was  created  a  Doctor  of  Civil  Law  at  Oxford,  having  been  pre- 
viously admitted  a  member  of  the  Antiquarian  and  Dilettanti  Societies.  In  17*:!  lie  published 
Mason's  translation  of  Du  Fresnoy's  Art  of  Painting,  with  notes  by  himself.  In  1784  he  suceerded 
Ramsay  as  king's  painter.  In  1790  he  resigned  the  Presidency  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  on 
February  23,  1792,  he  expired.  At  his  funeral,  his  pall  was  supported  by  three  Dukes,  two  .Mar- 
quesses, and  five  other  noblemen.  He  was  buried  by  the  side  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  in  St.  Paul's, 
where  a  statue  has  been  raised  to  his  memory  by  Flaxman. 

SIR  JOHN  RICHARDSON,  KXT.,  M.D.,F.R.S.,F.L.S. 

This  Arctic  Traveller  was  born  at  Dumfries  in  1787.  Ho  was  educated  in  the  Grammar  School 
of  his  native  town,  and  in  1801  was  admitted  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  st  udied  for  the 
medical  profession.  In  1807  he  entered  the  navy  as  an  assistant-surgeon,  without  having  taken  his  M.D. 
degree,  but  which  he  took  in  1816.  In  1819  he  accompanied  Capt.  Franklin  as  surgeon  and  naturalist 
on  his  first  Arctic  Expedition ;  and  again  in  1825,  and  returned  in  1827.  In  1829  he  commenced 
the  publication  of  the  "Fauna  Boreali- Americana,  or,  the  Zoology  of  the  Northern  Parts  of  British 
America,  containing  Descriptions  of  the  Objects  of  Natural  History  collected  on  the  late  Northern 
Land  Expedition,  under  the  command  of  Sir  John  Franklin,"  which  was  completed  in  1837.  In  1838 
he  was  appointed  Physician  to  the  Fleet.  In  1840  he  was  promoted  to  an  Inspectorship  of  Hospitals, 
and  received  the  honour  of  knighthood  in  1846  :  as  part  of  his  official  duty,  he  had  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  museum  at  Haslar  Hospital.  In  1848,  the  Government  having  determined  to  send 
out  three  expeditions  in  search  of  Sir  John  Franklin,  who  had  left  England  in  1845  and  had  not. 
since  been  heard  of,  Sir  John  Richardson  had  the  command  of  that  which  was  to  search  the  coasts 
between  the  Mackenzie  and  Coppermine  rivers,  and  the  shores  of  Victoria  Land  and  Wollaston 
Land,  opposite  Cape  Krusenstern.  This  search  he  was,  after  undergoing  many  hardships,  obliged 
to  relinquish ;  and  he  returned  to  England  in  1849.  In  1851  he  published  an  account  of  this  expe- 
dition, "Arctic  Searching  Expedition,"  etc.,  in  2  vols.  8vo.  Sir  John  retired  from  service  as  a  naval 
medical  officer  in  1855.  He  has  contributed  to  the  natural  history  of  the  works  published  detailing 
the  Arctic  voyages  of  the  several  navigators. 


REAR-ADMIRAL  SIR  JOHN  ROSS,  KNT.,  F.R.S.,F.L.S. 

An  Arctic  Navigator,  born  at  Balsarroch  in  Wigtownshire.  He  entered  the  navy  as  a  first 
class  volunteer  in  1786.  He  was  in  the  merchant  service  for  some  years ;  and  in  1799  was  appointed 
a  Midshipman,  and  a  Lieutenant  in  1805.  He  obtained  a  pension  of  £98  per  annum,  in  1808,  for 
wounds  received  in  cutting  out  a  Spanish  vessel  under  the  batteries  of  Bilboa  in  1806 ;  increased  in 
1815  to  £150.  In  1812  he  attained  the  rank  of  Commander.  In  1818  he  was  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  "  Isabella,"  accompanied  by  Lieutenant  Parry  in  the  "Alexander,"  on  a  voyage  for 
discovery  of  the  north-west  passage.  They  returned  in  November  1818,  without  having  effected  the 
object  of  their  voyage,  much  to  the  disappointment  of  Lieutenant  Parry,  who  did  not  coincide  in 
Lieutenant  Ross's  opinion  that  there  was  no  outlet  from  the  Lancaster  Sound.  In  December  of  the 
name  year  he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  Post-Captain.  In  1827  Captain  Ross  submitted  to  the 
Admiralty  the  plan  of  another  voyage  of  discovery  to  the  Arctic  Seas,  which  was  declined.  But 
after  some  delay  Mr.  Booth  (now  Sir  Felix)  equipped  a  steam-ship  at  his  own  expense,  and  gave  the 
command  of  it  to  Captain  Ross,  who  with  his  nephew,  Commander  James  Clark  Ross,  as  second  in 


APPENDIX.  251 


command,  left  the  Thames  in  1829.  He  expected  to  find  a  north-west  passage  through  Prince 
Eegent  Inlet ;  but  from  the  8th  of  October,  1829,  till  September  1831,  they  were,  with  the  exception 
of  some  short  intervals,  frozen  up  in  that  Inlet,  and  on  the  29th  of  May  they  finally  abandoned  the 
ship.  They  struggled  on  till  August  1833,  when  the  ice  broke,  and  they  were  enabled  to  set  sail  in 
the  boats,  and  were  picked  up  by  the  "  Isabella"  of  Hull  (the  ship  which  Captain  Ross  had  formerly 
commanded  when  in  the  merchant  service),  and  arrived  at  that  port  on  the  13th  of  September.  On 
the  24th  of  December,  1834,  Captain  Ross  received  the  honour  of  knighthood,  together  with  the 
Companionship  of  the  Bath.  In  1839  Sir  John  was  appointed  Consul  at  Stockholm,  an  appoint- 
ment which  he  held  till  1845.  In  1850  he  went  out  in  search  of  Sir  John  Franklin,  but  was  unsuc- 
cessful. He  attained  his  rank  of  Rear- Admiral  in  1851.  Sir  John  was  the  author  of  "  A  Voyage  of 
Discovery,"  published  in  1819,  in  2  vols.  8vo.  He  died  August  30,  1856. 

REAR-ADMIRAL  SIR  JAMES  CLARK  ROSS,  KNT.,  F.R.S.,D.C.L.,F.L.S.,F.R.A.S,&F.Gr.S. 

This  Naval  Officer  is  the  nephew  of  the  above,  Admiral  Sir  John  Ross.  He  was  born  in  London 
in  1800.  He  entered  the  navy  in  1812  as  a  first-class  volunteer.  He  accompanied  his  uncle  as  an  Ad- 
miralty midshipman  in  his  first  voyage  in  search  of  a  north-west  passage.  From  1819  to  1825  he  sailed 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Parry  in  his  three  voyages  for  the  same  purpose,  and  was,  in  1822,  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant.  In  1827  he  again  accompanied  Captain  Parry  in  his  attempt  to  reach 
the  north  pole.  On  his  return  to  England  in  1827  he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  Commander.  From 
1829  to  1833  he  again  served  under  his  uncle  in  his  second  Arctic  voyage,  during  which  he  dis- 
covered the  northern  magnetic  pole,  and  was  rewarded  in  1834  by  Post  rank.  In  1839  he  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  "  Erebus,"  accompanied  by  Captain  Crosier  in  the  "  Terror,"  on  a 
voyage  to  the  Antarctic  Seas,  for  the  purpose  of  pursuing  magnetic  investigations  as  to  the  lines  of 
variation,  dip,  and  intensity ;  and  also  the  position  of  the  southern  magnetic  pole  or  poles.  Both 
ships  returned  in  1843,  having  lost  only  four  men  during  the  voyage, — three  by  accident,  and  one 
by  illness.  They  reached  within  157  miles  of  the  south  pole.  In  addition  to  the  discoveries  made 
during  this  voyage  in  geography,  geology,  zoology,  and  botany,  a  vast  continent  was  discovered,  bordered 
with  ice,  150  feet  high,  named  Victoria  Land ;  and  an  active  volcano,  12,000  feet  high,  in  the  region 
of  perpetual  snow,  which  they  named  Mount  Erebus.  He  was  knighted  in  1844,  and  received  the 
honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  from  the  University  of  Oxford.  In  1848  Sir  James  was  appointed  to 
the  "  Enterprise,"  on  a  voyage  to  Baffin's  Bay,  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  discover  Sir  John 
Franklin.  For  his  services  the  Admiralty  awarded  him  the  good  service  pension,  which  he  held 
until  his  promotion  to  the  rank  of  Rear-Admiral  in  1856.  In  1823  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the 
Linneean  Society,  and  in  1828  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  is  also  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Astronomical  and  Geographical  Societies,  and  a  Corresponding  Member  of  several  foreign  societies. 
In  1841  he  was  presented  with  the  founder's  gold  medal  of  the  London  Geographical  Society, 
and  in  1842  with  the  gold  medal  of  the  Geographical  Society  of  Paris.  In  1847  he  published, 
in  2  vols.  8vo,  an  account  of  his  voyage  in  the  southern  and  Antarctic  regions. 

SIR    WILLIAM    CHARLES    ROSS,  KKT.,  R.A., 

Was  born  in  London,  in  1794.  His  father  and  mother  were  both  artists,  and  under  their  instruction 
he  made  so  much  progress  that  he  was  admitted  a  student  of  the  Royal  Academy  when  only  ten 
years  of  age.  In  his  thirteenth  year  he  gained  a  silver  palette,  at  the  Society  of  Arts,  for  a  copy  in 
chalk  of  his  uncle  Smith's  engraving  of  "  The  Death  of  Wat  Tyler ;"  and  in  each  of  the  four  following 
years  he  received  other  prizes  from  the  same  Society.  In  1817  he  obtained  the  Society's  gold 
medal,  and  the  silver  medal  of  the  Royal  Academy.  He  commenced  his  career  as  a  portrait  and 
historical  painter;  but  feeling  the  difficulty  of  attaining  eminence  in  the  higher  departments  of  art,  he 
determined  to  apply  himself  to  miniature  painting,  in  which  branch  he  has  been  most  successful.  He 


252  APPENDIX. 


was  appointed  Miniature  Painter  to  Her  Majesty  in  1837  ;  in  1838  he  was  elected  an  Associate  of 
the  Royal  Academy,  and  a  Royal  Academician  in  Feb.  1842  ;  and  was  knighted  in  June  of  that  yr:ir. 
Though  devoted  to  miniature  painting,  he  did  not  wholly  disregard  historic  painting ;  for,  in  the 
competition  for  the  decoration  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  Sir  William  sent  in  his  cartoon  of  "  The 
Angel  Raphael  discoursing  with  Adam,"  and  obtained  one  of  the  additional  premiums  of  £100.  He 
died  Jan.  20,  1860. 

• 

SIR    DANIEL    KBYTE    SANDFORD,  KNT.,  D.C.L., 

Professor  of  Greek  in  Glasgow  University,  and  one  of  the  representatives  in  Parliament  of  thai  city, 
was  the  son  of  Dr.  Daniel  Sandford,  a  bishop  of  the  Scotch  Episcopal  Church.  He  was  educated  at 
the  High  School,  Edinburgh,  where  he  distinguished  himself;  and  in  1817  entered  as  a  com- 
moner of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  where  he  gained,  in  1821,  the  Chancellor's  prize  for  an  1 
on  the  Study  of  Modern  History.  He  took  his  A.M.  degree,  as  a  grand  compounder,  in  !?:>•->,  and 
D.C.L.  in  1833.  He  had  but  just  attained  his  majority  when  he  was  elected  to  the  Greek  Professor- 
ship in  the  University  of  Glasgow.  In  1830  he  was  knighted  in  consideration  of  his  literary 
eminence.  After  an  unsuccessful  contest  for  Glasgow,  during  the  excitement  of  the  Reform  Bill,  he  was 
returned  to  Parliament  for  Paisley  ;  but  was  soon  obliged,  by  ill  health,  to  resign  his  seat.  Many  of 
his  lectures  on  Greek  literature  were  published  as  articles  in  the  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  and  he  remo- 
delled some  of  the  elementary  books  on  that  language.  He  died  of  typhus  fever,  on  Feb.  9,  1838. 


SIR   ROBT.  HERMANN    SCHOMBURGK,  KM., 

Was  born  in  Thnringia  in  1804.  He  early  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  Geography  and  Natural 
History.  In  1831  he  was  sent  out  to  explore  Cenegada,  one  of  the  Virgin  Islands  ;  and  in  1835  he 
was  engaged  by  the  Geographical  Society  of  London  to  explore  the  interior  of  Guiana.  During  this 
exploratory  journey,  in  making  his  way  up  the  Berbice  river,  in  1837,  he  discovered  the  Victoria 
Regia  Water  Lily,  the  most  magnificent  aquatic  plant  known  to  exist.  On  his  return  to  England,  in 
1839,  he  received  the  gold  medal  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society.  In  1840  he  was  sent  out  by 
Government  to  make  a'  survey  of  British  Guiana,  and  was  knighted  on  his  return.  He  shortly  after 
published  an  interesting  account  of  the  country,  under  the  title  of  "  A  Description  of  British  Guiana." 
In  1847  he  published  a  "History  of  Barbadoes,"  a  very  valuable  work.  In  1848  Sir  Robert  was 
appointed  British  Consul  to  the  Republic  of  St.  Domingo,  a  post  which  he  still  holds.  His  reputation 
has  extended  throughout  Europe,  and  has  obtained  for  him  the  following  honours :  Knight  of  the 
Prussian  Order  of  the  Red  Eagle,  in  1840  ;  of  the  Saxon  Order  of  Merit,  in  1845  ;  and  a  Chevalier 
of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  in  1847.  He  was  elected  Doctor  of  Philosophy  by  the  University  of 
Konigsberg ;  and  an  honorary  member  of  several  of  the  leai-ned  societies  of  Europe  and  America. 


SIR   WALTER    SCOTT,  BAET. 

This  celebrated  Novelist  and  Poet  was  born  in  Edinburgh  in  1771.  Before  he  was  two  years  old 
he  became  lame  of  his  right  leg ;  and  it  was  not  until  he  had  attained  his  eighth  year  that  he  was 
deemed  strong  enough  to  be  sent  to  the  High  School.  In  1784  he  entered  the  University ;  and  in  1 7!'2 
was  called  to  the  bar.  His  first  literary  achievement  was  the  Translation  of  Burger's  "  Leonora," 
and  the  "Wild  Huntsman,"  in  1796.  In  Dec.  1799  he  was  appointed  Sheriff  of  Selkirkshire,  and 
in  1806  one  of  the  principal  Clerks  of  the  Court  of  Session.  Before  he  determined  to  make  literature 
"  a  staff — not  a  crutch,"  he  followed  up  his  first  appeal  to  the  public  by  his  "  William  and  Helen  ;" 
and  in  1799  he  translated  Gothe's  "  Gotz  of  Berlichingen."  This  was  followed  by  his  "  Border 
Minstrelsy";  a  work  which  introduced  him  to  Mr.  Ballamine,  in  whose  commercial  speculations 


APPENDIX. 


253 


he  became  ultimately  involved.  In  1805  he  commenced  his  career  as  the  most  popular  poet  of  the 
day,  by  the  publication  of  "  The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel";  followed,  in  1808,  by  "  Marmion";  "  The 
Lady  of  the  Lake"  in  1809  ;  and  "Don  Roderick"  in  1811.  His  other  poetical  works  appeared  in  rapid 
succession.  In  1814  he  published  anonymously  "  Waverley."  The  rapidity  with  which  that  novel 
rose  in  public  estimation  induced  him  to  proceed  in  this  field  of  literature,  in  which  he  has  obtained 
immortal  fame.  In  1826  occurred  the  commercial  crisis  which  attended  the  firms  of  Messrs.  Constable 
&  Co.  and  Messrs.  Ballantine  &  Co.  ;  in  the  latter  of  which  he  was  proved  to  be  a  partner,  and  his 
liabilities  amounted  to  £147,000.  From  this  responsibility  he  did  not  flinch;  and  he  said  to  his 
creditors,  —  "  Gentlemen,  Time  and  I  against  any  two.  Let  me  take  this  good  ally  into  my  company, 
and  I  believe  I  shall  be  able  to  pay  you  every  farthing."  His  debts,  which  were  materially  dimi- 
nished during  his  hie  by  his  literary  labours,  have  been  since  entirely  liquidated  by  the  profits  of  the 
collected  editions  of  his  works,  —  an  object  which  he  sacrificed  himself  to  obtain.  The  consciousness 
of  honourable  and  manly  endurance,  and  the  devoted  love  of  his  children,  smoothed  his  passage  to 
the  grave  ;  and  after  fourteen  days  of  total  insensibility,  he  expired  at  Abbotsford,  on  Sept.  21, 
1832.  There  are  few  more  striking  examples  of  the  truth  of  the  remark,  that  "  man  proposes,  but 
God  disposes,"  than  that  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  By  his  own  exertions  he  was  raised  to  affluence.  He 
purchased  and  built  Abbotsford  in  the  vain  hope  of  founding  a  family  residence  ;  but  his  wealth 
vanished  from  his  grasp,  and  he  was  obliged  to  exchange  his  noble  mansion  with  "  all  its  auld  nick- 
nackets,"  for  a  humble  lodging  ;  and  his  fond  desire  of  handing  down  to  posterity  his  name  and 
baronetcy  has  been  dissipated  by  the  death  of  all  his  own  children,  and  of  his  grandson,  Walter 
Scott  Lockhart. 


SIR    CHARLES    SCUDAMORE, 


M.D.,  F.R.S., 


Was  born  in  1779,  at  Wye,  in  Kent.  He  studied  medicine  in  the  University  of  Glasgow,  where  he 
took  his  M.D.  degree.  He  devoted  his  attention  principally  to  the  treatment  and  cure  of  the  gout, 
upon  which  he  has  written  several  Treatises,  the  most  successful  being  "  A  Treatise  on  the  Nature 
and  Cure  of  the  Gout  and  Gravel,  with  Observations  on  Rheumatism,"  and  has  passed  through  four 
editions.  In  1824  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  ;  and  was  knighted,  in  1829,  by  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland,  then  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  He  died  Aug.  4,  1849. 


SIR  ROBERT  SEPPINGS,  KNT.,  F.R.S., 

A  distinguished  Naval  Architect,  was  born  in  1768.  He  received  his  education  as  a  shipwright 
under  Sir  John  Henslow,  and  continued  in  the  service  of  the  Dockyards  for  a  period  of  nearly  fifty 
years.  He  was  the  author  of  numerous  and  important  improvements  in  naval  architecture,  the  prin- 
cipal of  which,  the  system  of  diagonal  bracing  and  trussing,  he  devised  while  Master  Shipwright  of 
Chatham  Dockyard.  These  improvements  were  universally  adopted  in  the  Navy,  and  their  merit 
acknowledged  by  his  appointment  as  Surveyor-General  of  that  department,  and  the  award  of  the  Copley 
Medal  of  the  Royal  Society,  of  which  he  was  elected  a  Fellow,  Nov.  10, 1814.  While  Master-Shipwright 
Assistant  in  Plymouth  Dockyard,  he  invented  an  improved  block  for  supporting  vessels,  by  which 
their  keels  and  lower  timbers  were  more  easily  repaired ;  for  this  he  received  from  the  Admiralty 
the  reward  of  £1000,  and  the  gold  medal  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1804.  The  most  valuable  of  all 
his  reforms  in  Naval  Architecture  was  the  substitution  of  round  for  flat  sterns.  For  these  and  other 
improvements,  which  have  tended  greatly  to  economise  labour  and  expenditure,  he  received  the  marked 
approbation  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament.  Foreign  Nations  also  acknowledged  the  value  of  his 
improvements.  The  Emperor  Alexander  of  Russia  and  the  Kings  of  Denmark  and  Holland  presented 
him  with  memorials  of  their  appreciation  of  his  merits.  Sir  R.  Seppings  was  an  honorary  Member 
of  the  Cambridge  University  Philosophical  Society,  and  a  corresponding  Member  of  the  Philosophical 
Society  of  Rotterdam.  He  was  prevented  by  illness  from  receiving  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L. 


254 


APPENDIX. 


intended  to  have  been  conferred  upon  him  by  the  University  of  Oxford  in  1836.  The  honour  of  a 
knight-banneret  was  conferred  upon  him  in  1819,  on  board  the  Royal  George  yacht  under  sail,  and 
the  royal  standard  flying.  He  died  April  25,  1840. 

SIR  MARTIN  ARCHER  SHEE,  KNT.,  P.R.A. 

This  fashionable  Portrait  Painter  was  born  in  1770,  at  Dublin.  At  an  early  age,  by  his  own 
desire,  he  was  entered  as  a  student  of  the  Dublin  Society,  and  before  he  was  twelvu  years  old  he 
carried  off  the  three  chief  prizes  for  figure,  landscape,  and  flower  drawing;  and  at  the  ago  of  sixtivn 
he  is  said  to  have  found  ample  occupation  as  a  portrait  painter.  In  1788  he  came  to  London,  and 
was  entered  a  student  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  in  the  following  year  became  an  exhibitioner.  In 
1798  he  was  elected  an  Associate,  and  in  1800  a  Royal  Academician.  His  presentation  picture  was 
a  Belisarius.  In  1805  he  appeared  before  the  public  in  the  character  of  a  poet,  in  a  work  intith-d, 
"  Rhymes  on  Art,"  described  by  himself  as  "  a  Poem  on  Painting,  in  which,  more  particularly,  the 
Early  Progress  of  the  Student  is  Attempted  to  be  Illustrated  and  Encouraged."  He  also  wrote  a 
Tragedy, "  Alasco,"  in  wlu'ch  John  Kemble  was  to  have  sustained  the  principal  character  ;  but  it  was 
not  allowed  by  Colman,  the  licenser  of  plays,  to  be  performed.  He  also  wrote  a  novel,  which  has 
not  added  much  to  his  reputation.  In  1830  he  succeeded  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence  in  the  President's 
Chair  of  the  Royal  Academy,  which  he  obtained  by  a  large  majority  over  his  competitor,  Wilkie ;  and 
soon  afterwards  received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  He  died  Aug.  13,  1850. 

SIR  EDWARD  SHERBURNE,  KNT., 

Born  in  London  in  1618.  He  succeeded  his  father,  in  1641,  in  the  Clerkship  of  His  Majesty's  Ord- 
nance. Being  a  Roman  Catholic  and  staunch  Royalist,  he  was  ejected  from  the  office  by  a  wan-ant 
of  the  House  of  Lords  in  the  following  year.  He  then  actively  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  king, 
who  appointed  him  Commissary  General  of  the  Royal  Artillery.  He  attended  the  King  at  Oxford, 
where  he  took  his  A.M.  degree  in  1642.  On  the  Restoration  he  obtained  his  old  situation  in  the 
Ordnance,  and  was  knighted  in  1682.  He  was  author  of  poetical  translations  of  the  "  Medea"  and 
"  Troades"  of  Seneca,  and  of  Manilius  :  to  the  latter  work  is  added  an  "  Appendix,"  containing  lives 
of  scientific  men,  Ins  contemporaries,  giving  valuable  information  respecting  them,  not  to  be  met  with 
elsewhere.  He  died  in  poverty  on  Nov.  4,  1702. 

SIR  ROBERT  SIBBALD,  KNT.,  M.D., 

A  Physician  and  Botanist,  born  near  Leslie,  in  Fifeshire,  about  1643.  He  was  appointed  Physician 
and  Geographer  to  Charles  II.,  by  whom  he  was  knighted.  The  College  of  Physicians  at  Edinburgh 
was  founded  by  his  exertions,  and  he  was  its  first  President.  He  was  the  author  of  numerous  works, 
among  which  we  may  notice  "  Scotia  Illustrata,"  and  "  The  Liberty  and  Independence  of  the  Kingdom 
and  Church  of  Scotland."  He  died  in  1712. 


SIR    GEORGE    SIMPSON,  KNT., 

Was  born  at  Lochbroom,  Ross-shire,  about  1 796.  In  early  youth  he  was  sent  out  to  America,  and 
by  his  tact  effected  a  coalition  between  the  chartered  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  the  unchartm  d 
North- West  Company  of  Canada,  between  which  Companies  a  troublous  contest  was  then  raging; 
and  was  soon  after  appointed  Governor  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  territories,- — an  office  which 
he  now  holds.  In  1836  he  was  instructed  by  the  Directors  of  the  Company  to  make  arrangements 
for  the  equipment  of  an  expedition  to  connect  the  discoveries  of  Captains  Ross  and  Back.  This  he 
executed  with  such  zeal  and  forethought,  that  the  expedition  was  entirely  successful,  under  the 


APPENDIX. 


255 


conduct  of  his  nephew,  the  late  Thos.  Simpson,  noted  in  Arctic  discovery,  who  traced  the  Arctic  coast 
of  America  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mackenzie  River  to  Point  Barrow,  and  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Copper  Mine  River  to  the  Gulf  of  Boothia.  In  consideration  of  the  Governor's  services,  Her 
Majesty,  in  1841,  conferred  upon  him  the  honour  of  knighthood. 

THE  RIGHT  HON.  SIR  JOHN  SINCLAIR,  BART., 

Was  born  at  Thnrso  Castle,  in  the  County  of  Caithness,  in  1754.  He  was  admitted  a  Member  of  the 
Faculty  of  Advocates  in  Scotland  in  1755,  and  was  called  to  the  English  bar  in  1782.  In  1780  he 
was  returned  to  Parliament  for  Caithness,  and  sat  in  several  successive  parliaments  for  his  native 
county  and  other  places.  He  was  created  a  Baronet  in  1786,  and  in  1810  was  made  a  Privy  Coun- 
cillor. He  was  a  member  of  several  learned  societies,  and  distinguished  for  his  numerous  writings, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned  his  "  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,"  a  work  displaying  an  almost 
incredible  amount  of  labour  and  research.  By  his  exertions  was  formed  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  in 
1793,  of  which  he  was  the  first  President.  He  died  on  Dec.  21,  1835. 

SIR  WILLIAM  HENRY  SLEEMAN,  K.C.B., 

Born  at  Stratton,  Corn-wall,  in  1788.  In  1808  he  entered  the  East  India  Company's  Service  as  a 
Cadet.  During  a  lengthened  period  of  nearly  fifty  years  he  employed  his  energies  in  the  extinction 
of  the  atrocious  systems  of  Thuggee  and  Dacoity,  and  in  various  commissions  under  successive 
Governors-General,  which  he  performed  with  signal  success,  and  obtained  for  him  the  honour  of  a 
Knight  Commander  of  the  Bath,  at  the  special  request  of  Lord  Dalhousie,  in  1856.  He  was  the 
author  of  two  works  on  Political  Economy,  a  "  Diary  in  Oucle,"  and  "  Rambles  and  Recollections  of 
an  Indian  Officer,"  the  latter  of  which  gives  a  most  faithful  picture  of  the  religious,  moral,  and  social 
condition  of  the  natives  of  that  country.  He  died  at  sea,  on  his  return  to  England,  on  Feb.  10,  1856. 


SIR    HANS    SLOANE,  BART.,  P.R.S.,  P.R.C.P. 

This  eminent  Physician  was  born  at  Killelagh,  in  Ireland,  April  16,  1660.  Having  entered  the 
Medical  Profession,  he  came  over  to  England,  and  studied  Chemistry  under  the  celebrated  Stahl, 
and  Botany  in  the  Apothecaries'  Garden  at  Chelsea,  the  ground  of  which  he  (on  subsequently  pur- 
chasing the  manor)  gave  to  the  Company.  In  1683  he  set  out  for  Paris,  where  he  attended  the  anato- 
mical lectures  of  Duverney,  and  those  on  Botany  by  Tournefort.  In  1685  he  was  elected  Fellow  of 
the  Ro}Tal  Society,  and  Secretary  in  1693  :  the  duties  of  this  office  he  discharged  gratuitously  for  a 
period  of  twenty  years;  and  on  the  decease  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  in  1727  he  was  elected  President, 
an  honour  he  retained  for  fourteen  years.  In  April  1687  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  College  of 
Physicians ;  and  in  the  same  year  accepted  the  appointment  of  Physician  to  the  Duke  of  Albemarle, 
who  was  going  out  as  Governor  of  Jamaica.  In  that  and  the  neighbouring  islands  he  made  an 
immense  collection  of  plants,  and  returned  to  England  in  1689.  In  1694  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
Physicians  of  Christ's  Hospital ;  the  salary  for  this  office  (which  he  held  for  thirty  years),  although 
he  regularly  received,  he  returned  immediately  to  the  Hospital.  He  attended  Queen  Anne  in  her 
last  illness,  and  was  created  a  Baronet  in  1716,  on  the  accession  of  George  I.,  being  the  first  Physician 
upon  whom  that  honour  was  conferred.  He  was  at  the  same  time  made  Physician-General  to  the 
Army, — an  appointment  which  he  resigned  on  being  constituted  Physician  in  Ordinary  to  George  II. 
In  1719  he  was  elected  President  of  the  College  of  Physicians, — an  office  which  he  held  for  sixteen 
years ;  and  took  an  active  part  in  establishing  the  Dispensary  initiated  by  the  College  for  providing 
the  poor  with  medical  attendance  and  physic  gratuitously.  The  plan  of  the  Foundling  Hospital 
originated  with  him.  The  whole  of  his  Collection  of  Medals,  Natural  History,  Books,  Manuscripts,  &c. 
he  bequeathed  to  the  Public,  on  condition  that  a  sum  of  £20,000  (not  one  fourth  of  its  value)  should 


256 


APPENDIX. 


bo  paid  to  his  executors.  This  sum  was  voted  by  Parliament,  and  hence  commenced  the  formation  of 
the  British  Museum.  His  first  work  "A  Catalogue  of  the  Native  Plants  of  Jamaica,"  was  published 
in  1696.  He  died  at  Chelsea,  Jan.  11,  1753. 

SIR  ROBERT  SMIRKE,  KNT.,  R.A., 

A  celebrated  Architect,  was  born  in  1780.  He  acquired  the  rudiments  of  art  under  his  father, 
who,  before  the  time  of  Wilkie,  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  English  genre  painters.  In  his 
travels  in  Italy,  Sicily,  Greece,  and  Germany,  he  directed  his  attention  to  the  remains  of  ancient  ;n-t  ; 
and  shortly  after  his  return  in  1805,  the  results  of  his  investigations  appeared  in  Donaldson's 
"  Antiquities  of  Athens,"  and  other  works.  In  1806  he  published  "  Specimens  of  Continental  Archi- 
tecture," in  folio.  His  first  public  building  was  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  commenced  in  1808,  in  the 
Doric  order.  In  1811  he  erected  the  Royal  Mint,  also  in  the  Doric  order.  A  still  more  important 
work  (the  Post  Office)  was  entrusted  to  him,  which  he  commenced  in  1823  and  completed  in  1829, 
the  porticoes  of  which  are  of  the  Ionic  order.  The  College  of  Physicians,  several  of  the  Club  Houses, 
King's  College,  the  Library  of  the  Inner  Temple,  and  the  Restoration  of  York  Minster  after  the  fire 
in  1829,  were  from  his  designs,  and  completed  under  his  superintendence.  His  great  work  is  the 
British  Museum,  commenced  in  1823,  but  not  completed  till  1847.  This  extensive  pile  of  building  is 
in  the  Ionic  order,  and  is  the  largest  and  most  imposing  Grecian  structure  in  the  metropolis  ;  and  us 
originally  constructed  inclosed  an  open  quadrangle,  which  has  since  been  almost  entirely  occupied  by 
the  New  Reading  Room  recently  completed.  He  was  elected  a  Member  of  the  Royal  Academy  in 
1810,  and  was  for  some  years  Treasurer  of  that  Institution.  He  was  one  of  the  Architects  of  the 
Board  of  Works,  till  the  abolition  of  the  office  in  1831,  when  he  was  knighted.  His  advancing  years 
and  declining  health  have  induced  him  to  resign  his  professional  duties. 

SIR  JAMES  EDWARD  SMITH,  KNT.,  M.D., 

The  Founder  of  the  Linnroan  Society,  was  born  at  Norwich  in  1759.  In  1781  he  commenced  the  study 
of  Medicine  at  Edinburgh,  and  in  1782  obtained  Dr.  Hope's  gold  medal  for  the  best  botanical  collec- 
tion. On  his  return  to  London  he  heard  from  Sir  J.  Banks  that  the  whole  of  the  collection  of  books, 
manuscripts,  and  natural  history  of  Linnaeus  had  been  offered  to  him  for  1000  guineas,  which  he  had 
declined.  Of  this  collection  he  determined  to  become  the  purchaser,  and  by  the  assistance  of  his  father 
he  was  enabled  to  buy  it.  Two  years  after  this  collection  had  passed  into  his  hands  he  travelled  on 
the  continent  and  took  his  degree  of  M.D.  at  Leyden.  In  1788,  with  the  co-operation  of  Sir  J.  Banks 
and  others,  he  founded  the  Linnrean  Society,  and  was  its  first  President.  In  1792  he  was  employed  to 
instruct  Queen  Charlotte  and  the  Princesses  in  Botany.  In  1814  he  received  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood from  the  Prince  Regent,  on  the  presentation  of  a  copy  of  the  "Transactions"  of  the  Linnaean 
Society,  as  the  Institutor  and  President  of  the  Society.  Of  his  works,  which  are  very  voluminous, 
a  full  list  is  given  in  the  "  Memoir  of  his  Life  and  Correspondence,"  published  by  his  widow.  His 
"  English  Botany,"  in  36  vols.,  with  2592  coloured  figures  by  Mr.  Sowerby,  is  his  most  extensive 
•work.  Sir  James  died  on  March  17,  1828. 


SIR  JOHN  SOANE,  KNT.,  R.A.,  F.R.S., 

Was  the  son  of  a  bricklayer  or  small  builder,  and  born  at  Reading  in  1752.  At  an  early  age  he 
entered  the  office  of  Mr.  Dance,  the  architect,  as  an  attendant  or  errand  boy,  but  was  afterwards 
placed  on  the  footing  of  a  pupil.  He  subsequently  entered  the  office  of  Mr.  Holland,  another  architect 
of  eminence,  where  he  designed  a  triumphal  bridge,  which  obtained  for  him  the  gold  medal,  and,  at 
the  recommendation  of  Sir  W.  Chambers,  the  travelling  studentship  of  the  Royal  Academy.  While 


APPENDIX.  257 


in  Italy,  from  1777  to  1780,  he  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Thomas  Pitt,  afterwards  Lord  Camelford, 
to  whom  he  is  said  to  have  been  mainly  indebted  for  his  appointment  as  Architect  of  the  Bank  of 
England.  Upon  obtaining  this  lucrative  office  he  married  Miss  Smith,  the  niece  of  a  wealthy 
builder,  Mr.  George  Wyatt,  at  whose  death  he  became  possessed  of  a  large  fortune  in  right  of  his 
wife.  In  1 791  he  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Works  to  St.  James's  Palace  ;  Architect  to  the  Woods 
and  Forests  in  1795  ;  and  Surveyor  to  Chelsea  Hospital  in  1807.  In  1806  he  was  appointed  Professor 
of  Architecture  at  the  Royal  Academy.  In  1828  he  published  a  folio  volume  of  "  Public  and  Private 
Buildings,"  intended  by  him  to  be  a  record  of  his  long  professional  career.  In  1831  he  received  the 
honour  of  knighthood,  having  refused  a  baronetcy,  not  wishing  that  honour  to  descend  upon  his  only 
surviving  son,  with  whom  he  had  been  at  variance  for  several  years.  In  1833  he  obtained  an  Act  of 
Parliament  vesting  his  Museum,  Library,  &c.  (valued  at  £50,000)  in  trustees,  for  the  nse  of  the 
public  after  his  death,  which  took  place  at  his  house  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  Jan.  20, 1837. 


SIR  JAMES  SOUTH,  KNT.,  F.R.S.L.  AND  E.,  HON.  M.R.I.A.,  M.R.C.S.,  F.L.S.,  F.R.A.S. 

This  celebrated  Astronomer  is  the  son  of  a  dispensing  druggist  in  Southwark.  In  1809  he  was 
admitted  a  Member  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  and  commenced  practice  in  Blackman-street ; 
which  he  soon  gave  up,  and  removed  to  Campden  Hill,  Kensington,  where  he  built  his  celebrated 
Observatory.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Astronomical  Society  in  1820,  of  which  he  has  filled 
the  Presidential  Chair.  He  was  knighted  in  1830,  and  enjoys  a  pension  of  £300  per  annum  on  the 
Civil  List,  for  his  discoveries  in  Astronomical  Science.  The  account  of  his  astronomical  observations 
while  residing  in  Blackman-street,  where  he  compiled,  in  conjunction  with  Sir  J.  Herschel,  a  cata- 
logue of  three  hundred  and  eighty  double  stars,  has  been  published  in  the  "  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions for  1825."  In  1821  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society ;  he  is  also  a  Fellow  of  several 
other  societies,  both  British  and  Foreign. 

SIR    RICHARD    STEELE,  KNT., 

The  originator  of  the  Periodical  Essays,  was  born  in  Dublin  about  1676.  He  was  educated  at  the 
Charterhouse,  from  whence  he  proceeded  to  Merton  College,  Oxford,  which  he  left  without  taking 
his  degree,  and  entered  the  army.  In  1709,  in  conjunction  with  Swift,  he  commenced  "  The  Tatler"; 
and  in  March  1710-11,  upon  discontinuing  that  periodical,  he  brought  out  "The  Spectator,"  in 
concert  with  Addison  ;  which  was  followed  by  "  The  Guardian"  and  other  similar  publications.  He 
also  wrote  several  successful  comedies.  In  1713  he  was  elected  member  for  Stockbridge,  and 
commenced  "  The  Crisis";  for  an  article  in  which  he  was,  on  March  12, 1713-14,  expelled  the  House. 
In  1715,  on  presenting  an  address  from  the  lieutenancy  of  Middlesex  to  George  I.,  he  was  knighted, 
and  was  soon  after  appointed  Surveyor  of  the  Royal  Stables  at  Hampton  Court.  He  died 
Sept.  21,  1729. 

RIGHT    HON.    SIR   JAMES    STEPHEN,  K.C.B., 

Was  born  in  1789.  He  was  educated  at  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge,  where  he  graduated  in  1812.  He 
had  been  previously,  in  1811,  called  to  the  bar  by  the  Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn.  Under  the  Mel- 
bourne Administration,  in  1833,  he  was  appointed  Under  Secretary  in  the  Colonial  Department, 
an  office  which  he  resigned  in  1847,  when  he  was  made  K.C.B.,  Civil  Division,  knighted,  and 
nominated  a  Member  of  the  Board  of  Council  for  Trade  and  Foreign  Plantations.  In  1838  he  com- 
menced writing  for  the  "  Edinburgh  Review";  and  a  collection  of  his  articles  in  that  journal  appeared 
in  1849  in  a  separate  volume,  intitled  "Essays  in  Ecclesiastical  Biography."  In  1849  he  was 
appointed  Regius  Professor  of  Modern  History  in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and  has  since 


258 


APPENDIX. 


published  two  volumes  of  Lectures  on  the  History  of  France.  He  also  held  the  Professorship  of 
Modern  History  at  Haileybury  College  for  some  years  before  the  breaking  up  of  that  institution. 
He  died  at  Coblentz  on  Sept,  12, 1860. 

SIB  ROWLAND  MACDONALD  STEPHENSON,  KNT., 

Born  in  London  in  1808.  He  was  educated  at  Harrow,  and  entered  upon  his  profession  of  a  Civil 
Engineer  in  1830,  and  became  Secretary  to  the  Association  established  in  1835  for  securing  steam 
communication  with  India,  and  Managing  Director  of  the  East  Indian  Railway  Company  in  1845. 
For  his  public  services  in  these  capacities  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood  in  1856.  He 
is  the  author  of  the  article  "  Railways"  in  Weale's  Series. 

SIR  JOHN  ANDREW  STEVENSON,  KNT.,  Mus.  D., 

A  distinguished  Composer,  was  born  in  Dublin  in  1761,  and  received  his  musical  instruction 
under  Dr.  Woodward  of  Christ  Church,  from  1771  to  1778.  In  1783  he  became  a  Choral  Vicar 
of  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Patrick,  and  after  some  delay  was  also  admitted  to  the  Chapter  of  Christ 
Church.  In  1779  he  composed  some  of  the  airs  for  O'Keefe's  farce  of  "Dead  Alive."  His 
anthems,  which  were  performed  by  the  choirs  of  both  cathedrals,  stamped  him  as  a  successful 
author  in  the  sublimest  scale  of  musical  creations.  The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Music  was 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  University  of  Dublin ;  and  in  1802  he  was  knighted  by  the  Earl  of 
Hardwicke,  then  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  From  1800  to  1816  he  was  engaged  in  adapting  the 
Irish  airs  to  Moore's  Melodies.  He  also  published  some  Psalms  and  Cathedral  Anthems.  The  last 
and  greatest  of  his  musical  productions  was  his  Oratorio  of  the  Thanksgiving  performed  at  the 
Dublin  Cathedral.  He  died  Sep.  14,  1833.  A  subscription  was  entered  into  shortly  after  his  death 
for  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  him  in  Christ  Church  Cathedral. 

SIR  JOHN  STODDART,  KNT.,  D.C.L. 

This  learned  Linguist  and  accomplished  Writer  was  born  at  Salisbury  in  1773,  and  received  his 
early  education  in  the  grammar  school  of  that  city.  He  was  entered  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  in 
1790,  and  graduated  in  Arts  in  1794,  and  in  Civil  Law  in  1798,  and  took  his  Doctor's  degree  in  1801. 
In  the  latter  year  he  was  admitted  a  Member  of  the  College  of  Advocates,  and  in  1803  was  appointed 
King's  Advocate  and  Admiralty  Advocate  in  Malta,  an  office  he  held  for  four  years,  when  he  returned 
to  London  and  resumed  his  practice  at  Doctors'  Commons.  In  1812  he  became  political  editor  of 
the  Times,  and  obtained  the  sobriquet  of  Dr.  Slop.  In  1816  his  connexion  with  that  journal  ceased  ; 
and  in  1817  he  brought  out  a  paper  in  opposition  to  it,  "  The  New  Times,"  which  was  unsuccessful. 
In  1826  he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  and  Judge  of  the  Admiralty  Court  of  Malta,  and  received  the 
honour  of  knighthood.  He  wrote  an  "  Introduction  to  General  History,"  and  other  works,  and 
commenced,  but  did  not  live  to  complete,  a  great  Etymological  work  intitled  "  Glossology."  He 
died  on  Feb.  16,  1856. 


SIR  ROBERT   STRANGE,  KNT., 

A  celebrated  Engraver,  born  at  Pomona,  one  of  the  Orkneys,  on  July  14,  1721.  At  first 
he  was  destined  for  the  law,  a  study  he  soon  relinquished,  and  entered  the  Navy.  He  subsequently 
became  an  adherent  of  the  Pretender,  and  narrowly  escaped  capture  and  execution.  In  1 751  he  settled 
in  London,  having  previously  studied  under  Le  Bas  in  Paris,  and  obtained  great  reputation  as  ;m 
historical  engraver,  of  which  class  he  is  considered  to  be  the  first  in  the  English  school.  In  1 787  he  was 


APPENDIX. 


259 


knighted.  He  executed  above  fifty  plates  from  pictures  of  the  most  celebrated  foreign  Masters.  His 
only  engraving  from  the  painting  of  an  English  artist  is  West's  "  Apotheosis  of  the  King's  Children." 
He  died  on  July  5,  1792. 


REAR-ADMIRAL  SIR  WILLIAM  SYMONDS,  KNT.,  C.B.  F.R.S., 

Was  bom  in  1782.  He  entered  the  Navy  at  an  early  age,  and  was  engaged  in  active  service  on  the 
Coasts  of  France  and  Spain,  and  in  the  West  Indies.  But  his  fame  rests  on  his  skill  as  a  Naval  Archi- 
tect, in  which  character  he  procured  the  removal  of  all  the  restrictions  with  respect  to  tonnage  and 
dimensions  that  had  previously  trammelled  his  predecessors.  He  was  allowed  to  construct  a 
corvette,  the  Columbine,  according  to  his  own  plans,  and  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  her  in 
1826 ;  and  so  great  was  the  success  which  attended  his  experimental  cruises  in  the  following  twelve 
months,  that,  as  a  reward,  he  was  raised  to  post  rank  in  1827.  In  1831,  by  the  munificence  of  the 
late  Duke  of  Portland,  he  was  enabled  to  build,  as  an  improvement  upon  the  Columbine,  a  ten-gun 
brig,  the  Pantaloon  ;  the  triumph  of  which  vessel  led  to  the  construction,  under  his  superintendence, 
of  the  Vernon,  50  ;  Vestal,  26  ;  Snake,  16  ;  and  other  ships.  In  1832  he  succeeded  Sir  R.  Seppings 
as  Surveyor  of  the  Navy.  Of  the  180  vessels  built  during  the  sixteen  years  he  held  that  office,  it  was 
remarked  in  1849,  two  years  after  his  retirement,  that  not  one  had  foundered.  The  honour  of 
knighthood  was  conferred  upon  him  in  1836.  In  1830  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  Admiralty  for 
his  "  Sailing  Directions  for  the  Adriatic  Sea ;  "  and  again  in  1837  for  "  the  valuable  Qualities  of  his 
several  Ships,  and  for  Improvements  introduced  by  him  into  the  Navy."  In  1835  he  was  elected  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  1848  Sir  Robert  was  nominated  a  Commander  of  the  Bath,  Civil 
Division,  and  became  a  Rear- Admiral  on  the  retired  list  in  1854.  He  died  on  March  30,  1856. 


SIR    WILLIAM    TEMPLE,  BART., 

An  eminent  Statesman  and  Author,  born  in  London  in  1628.  He  was  educated  successively  at  Pens- 
hurst  and  Bishop- Stortford  schools,  and  was  afterwards  entered  at  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge.  In 
1665  he  was  created  a  baronet  on  receiving  an  official  commission  to  be  resident  at  Brussels.  He 
is  distinguished  for  having  negotiated  with  consummate  skill  the  triple  league  between  England, 
Holland,  and  Sweden,  at  the  latter  end  of  1665,  and  the  treaty  of  marriage  of  the  Prince  of  Orange 
with  the  Lady  Mary,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  York.  He  was  author  of  "  Observations  upon  the 
United  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands";  Essays  on  various  subjects,  intitled  "Miscellanies";  and  an 
"  Introduction  to  the  History  of  England,"  etc.  He  died  at  Sheen,  in  January  1699. 


SIR    JAMES    EMERSON    TENNENT,  KNT.,  LL.D., 

Was  born  at  Belfast  in  1804.  He  was  educated  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  was  called  to  the 
bar  by  the  Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn  in  1831,  but  never  practised.  His  first  work,  "Travels  in 
Greece  in  1825,"  as  well  as  his  two  following,  were  published  in  his  own  surname  of  Emerson.  But 
in  1831,  having  married  the  heiress  of  William  Tennent,  Esq.,  who  succeeded  to  the  family  estates 
on  the  death  of  her  father  in  the  following  year,  he  assumed  the  additional  name  of  Tennent.  In 
1832  he  was  returned  to  Parliament  for  Belfast.  In  1841  he  was  appointed  Secretary  to  the  India 
Board  ;  and  in  1845  he  accepted  the  office  of  Civil  Secretary  to  the  Colonial  Government  of  Ceylon, 
and  received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  He  returned  to  England  at  the  end  of  1850,  and  in  1852 
was  appointed  to  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Poor  Law  Board  ;  and  from  November  of  that  year  he 
has  been  one  of  the  joint  Secretaries  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  During  his  parliamentary  and  official 


260  APPENDIX. 


life,  from  1841  to  the  present  time,  he  has  continued  his  labours  as  an  author,  and  has  published 
several  works,  the  result  of  knowledge  acquired  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  at  Ceylon  and  on  the 
Board  of  Trade. 


SIR    JAMES    THORNHILL,  KNT.,  F.R.S., 

Was  born  in  Dorsetshire  in  1676.  This  almost  self-taught  Artist  was  appointed  by  Queen  Anne  to 
paint  the  history  of  St.  Paul  in  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's  cathedral,  and  the  allegorical  figures  on  the 
ceiling  at  Hampton  Court  Palace  representing  the  Queen  and  her  Consort.  But  his  great  work  is 
the  painting  in  the  Refectory  and  Saloon  of  Greenwich  Hospital.  He  sat  in  parliament  for  Dorset- 
shire for  several  years.  He  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1723.  In  1720  he  was 
knighted,  on  being  appointed  Historical  Painter  to  George  I. ;  of  which  office  he  was  deprived  by 
George  II.  in  1731.  This  greatly  affected  his  health,  and  hastened  his  death,  which  took  place  on 
May  4,  1734. 

SIR    JOHN    VANBRUGH,  KNT. 

The  birth  of  this  Dramatic  Poet  and  Architect  is  supposed  to  have  been  in  1666.  He  was 
originally  an  officer  in  the  army,  from  which  he  retired,  and  became  a  writer  of  several  plays  of 
variable  success  and  exceptionable  morality.  His  first  play,  "  The  Relapse,"  was  brought  out  in 
1697.  Of  his  architectural  talent,  Blenheim  Palace  and  St.  John's  church,  Westminster,  are 
examples.  In  1703  he  was  appointed,  by  the  Earl  of  Carlisle  (Earl  Marshal),  Clarencieux  King  of 
Arms,  He  was  knighted  in  1714  ;  and  died  on  March  26,  1726. 

SIR    BALDWIN    WAKE    WALKER,  BAET.,  K.C.B. 

This  Naval  Officer  was  born  in  1803.  He  was  present  at  the  capture  of  St.  Jean  d'Acre  in  1840, 
where  he  distinguished  himself,  and  received  the  honour  of  K.C.B.  He  became  a  Rear-Admiral  of 
the  Blue  in  the  British  service  in  1858.  He  is  also  an  admiral  in  the  Turkish  service.  He  succeeded 
Sir  William  Symonds  as  Surveyor  and  Comptroller  of  the  Navy  in  1847.  When  he  entered  upon 
this  office,  our  navy,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  paddle-wheel  steamers,  was  composed  of  sailing 
ships  ;  but  under  his  auspices  the  screw  has  been  introduced  into  the  service,  with  which  most  of 
our  ships  of  war  are  now  supplied.  For  his  important  services  during  the  Russian  war,  and  in  this 
reconstruction  of  our  navy,  he  was  rewarded  with  a  baronetcy  in  1856.  Being  desirous  of  active 
service  afloat,  he  resigned  his  office  in  1860,  and  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  station.  His  retiring  pension  has  been  fixed  by  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  at  a  fraction 
below  £700  per  annum.  He  has  received  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  and  is  a  knight  of 
several  foreign  orders. 


SIR    RICHARD  WESTMACOTT,  KNT.,  R.A.,  D.C.L. 

This  Sculptor  was  born  in  London  in  1775.  His  education  commenced  in  the  studio  of  his 
father,  who  had  obtained  some  eminence  in  his  day.  In  1 793  he  went  to  Rome,  and  had  the  benefit 
of  Canova's  instruction.  In  1794  he  obtained  the  first  prize  for  sculpture  in  the  Academy  of 
Florence,  of  which  he  was  elected  a  member  in  the  following  year,  when  he  also  obtained  the 
Pope's  medal.  The  most  popular  of  his  works  is  the  statue  of  "  Psyche,"  which  he  executed  for 
the  Duke  of  Bedford.  Among  those  in  alto  and  bas-relief  may  be  mentioned  the  pediment  of  the 
British  Museum.  A  considerable  portion  of  his  time  has  been  employed  in  executing  public  monu- 
mental statues  of  warriors  and  statesmen  for  erection  in  Westminster  Abbey  and  St.  Paul's,  and  in 


APPENDIX.  261 


places  of  public  resort.  In  1805  he  was  elected  an  Associate  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  R.A.  in 
1816.  In  1827  he  succeeded  Flaxman  as  Professor  of  Sculpture  at  the  Royal  Academy ;  which 
office  he  held  until  his  death,  on  Sept.  1,  1856.  He  was  knighted  by  her  present  Majesty  in  1837, 
and  the  University  of  Oxford  has  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L. 

SIR    DAVID   WILKIE,  KNT.,  R.A., 

Was  born  at  Cults,  in  Fifeshire,  in  1785.  At  the  age  of  seven  he  was  sent  to  the  parish  school  of 
Pitlessie,  where  his  slate  and  paper  were  soon  converted  to  other  purposes  than  figures  and  penman- 
ship. He  became  the  portrait  painter  of  the  school,  and  was  usually  surrounded  by  a  group  of  boys 
and  girls  waiting  to  have  their  likenesses  taken  in  turn.  From  this  school  he  was  removed  to  Kettle 
and  Cupar  in  succession.  But  in  none  did  he  make  any  proficiency  in  the  ordinary  departments  of 
education,  his  thoughts  and  time  being  entirely  devoted  to  his  favourite  pursuit :  his  father  therefore 
obtained  his  admission  into  the  Trustees'  Academy  in  Edinburgh,  at  which  time  he  was  fourteen  years 
of  age.  Here  he  remained  five  years,  and  obtained  a  ten-guinea  prize.  He  then  returned  to  Cults, 
and  there  designed  his  "Fair  of  Pitlessie,"  of  which  the  grouping  and  incidents  were  original,  but 
the  characters  were  taken  from  living  persons,  principally  during  the  service  at  the  parish  church, 
when  in  a  dozing  state.  After  having  taken  the  portraits  of  most  of  those  in  Fife,  who  were  ambitious 
of  seeing  their  likenesses  on  canvas,  he  determined  to  establish  himself  in  London,  and  repaired 
there  in  1805,  and  entered  the  Royal  Academy  as  a  probationer  and  a  student  at  the  end  of  the 
year.  His  merits  were  now  brought  into  notice,  and  the  Earl  of  Mansfield  commissioned  him  to 
paint  "  The  Village  Politicians,"  which  was  placed  in  the  Exhibition,  and  obtained  universal  admi- 
ration. His  fame  was  at  once  established,  and  his  other  great  works  followed  in  rapid  succession.  In 
1809  he  was  made  an  Associate  of  the  Royal  Academy ;  and  in  1811  he  was  elected  a  Royal  Acade- 
mician, being  then  only  twenty-six  years  of  age.  In  1812  he  made  an  exhibition  of  his  pictures, 
twenty-nine  in  number ;  which,  although  it  added  to  his  reputation,  was  a  failure  as  a  profitable 
speculation.  In  1813  he  exhibited  his  picture  of  "  Blindman's  Buff,"  painted  for  the  Prince  Regent. 
In  1821  he  produced  his  masterpiece,  "  The  Chelsea  Pensioners,"  for  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  for 
which  he  received  twelve  hundred  guineas.  In  1823  he  was  appointed  Limner  to  the  King  in 
Scotland.  In  1824  he  made  a  protracted  visit  to  the  Continent  to  recruit  his  health  ;  and  at  Rome 
a  public  dinner  was  given  to  him,  presided  over  by  the  Duke  of  Hamilton.  He  returned  to  England 
in  1828.  On  the  death  of  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  in  1830,  Wilkie  was  appointed  Painter  in  Ordinary 
to  His  Majesty,  and  became  a  candidate,  with  Mr.  Shee,  for  the  Presidentship  of  the  Royal 
Academy ;  in  which  contest  he  was  unsuccessful,  having  obtained  only  one  vote.  In  1836  he  was 
knighted  by  William  IV.  In  1840  Sir  David  set  out  on  his  tour  to  the  East ;  and  upon  his  home- 
ward voyage,  having  been  for  three  months  unwell,  he  expired  off  Gibraltar  on  June  1,  1841,  and  on 
the  evening  of  the  same  day  his  body  was  committed  to  the  deep.  A  monument  is  erected  to  his 
memory  in  the  inner  hall  of  the  National  Gallery,  the  result  of  subscriptions  at  a  public  dinner 
presided  over  by  Sir  Robert  Peel. 


SIR  CHARLES  WILKINS,  KNT.,  K.C.H., 

Was  born  in  1749,  at  Frome,  in  Somersetshire.  Having  obtained  a  Writership,  he  proceeded  to  Cal- 
cutta in  1 770,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  acquired  considerable  knowledge  of  Arabic  and  Persian, 
as  well  as  of  some  of  the  spoken  languages  of  India.  He  aided  the  efforts  of  the  Governor- General 
Hastings  in  improving  the  education  of  the  Company's  servants,  by  the  establishment  of  a  printing- 
office,  in  the  manufacture  of  the  types  for  which  he  was  obliged  to  discharge  the  duties  of  metallurgist, 
engraver,  and  founder, — and  to  superintend  the  use  of  them  as  printer.  His  labours  in  promoting 
the  study  of  the  native  languages  obtained  for  him  the  appellation  of  "The  Father  of  Sanscrit 


262 


APPENDIX. 


Literature."  In  1784,  in  conjunction  with  Sir  William  Jones,  he  aided  in  establishing  the  Literary 
Society  of  Calcutta.  His  translation  of  the  Bhagvatgita,  one  of  the  episodes  of  the  .Mahal  .harata,  the 
great  national  poem  of  the  Hindoos,  was  printed  at  the  expense  of  the  Company.  In  1786,  from 
failing  health,  he  returned  to  England,  aud  soon  afterwards  began  to  arrange  the  materials  for  a 
Sanscrit  Grammar,  which  lie  had  brought  with  him  from  India,  and  formed  with  his  own  hands  a 
set  of  punches  of  the  Devanagari  characters,  and  made  the  matrices  and  moulds  from  which  he  cast 
a  fount  of  types.  Unfortunately,  a  fire  broke  out  in  his  house  when  he  had  completed  about  twenty 
I  of  his  grammar,  which  destroyed  or  rendered  useless  nil  his  types;  and  it  was  not  until  isut; 
that  he  was  enabled  to  resume  his  labours;  and  in  about  two  years  he  completed  the  grammar,  the 
greatest  of  his  works.  In  1801  he  was  appointed  Librarian  to  the  East  India  Company  ;  and  in  1805 
Visitor  and  Examiner  of  the  Students  in  the  Oriental  Department  at  Hailevlmrv  and  Addiscombe, 
which  offices  he  held  until  his  death  on  May  13,  1836.  In  1833  the  honour  of  Knight  Bachelor  and 
Knight  Commander  of  the  Guelphic  Order  was  conferred  upon  him  by  George  IV.  He  received,  in 
1825,  the  gold  medal  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature,  and  was  a  Member  of  the  Royal  Institute  of 
Paris,  and  many  other  learned  Societies 


SIR  JOHN  GARDNER  WILKINSON,  KNT.,  F.R.S.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.G.S. 

This  celebrated  Traveller  and  Archaeologist  was  born  in  1798.  He  was  educated  at  Harrow, 
whence  he  proceeded  to  Exeter  College,  Oxford.  He  afterwards  went  to  Egypt,  where  he  remained 
twelve  vears,  devoting  himself  to  the  study  of  the  antiquities  of  that  country.  He  resided  a 
considerable  time  in  a  tomb  at  Thebes,  and  made  accurate  surveys  of  the  district,  and  drawings  of 
the  stupendous  architectural  monuments.  The  works  he  has  published,  of  which  we  may  particularize 
that  on  the  Ancient  Egyptians,  sufficiently  attest  the  care  and  skill  with  which  his  investigations  were 
conducted.  In  1840  he  received  the  honour  of  knighthood  for  his  labours  in  literature  and  archae- 
ology. In  1834  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society;  and  the  University  of  Oxford  have 
conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.L.  He  is  also  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  and  a  member  of  most  of  the  leading  literary  and  scientific  societies  of  Europe. 


SIR  NATHANIEL  WILLIAM  WRAXALL,  BART., 

Was  born  at  Bristol  in  1751.  After  having  received  his  education  in  his  native  city,  he  entered  the 
Civil  Service  of  the  East  India  Company,  and  proceeded  to  Bombay  in  1769.  In  1771  he  accompa- 
nied the  expeditions  against  Guzerat  and  Baroche  as  Judge  Advocate  and  Paymaster.  In  1772  he 
quitted  India  and  landed  at  Lisbon,  from  whence  he  proceeded  on  his  continental  travels,  and  visited 
the  principal  parts  of  Europe  and  Lapland.  During  this  period,  in  1774-5,  he  was  employed  in  a 
confidential  mission  from  the  Queen  of  Denmark  to  her  brother  George  III.,  who  presented  him  with 
1000  guineas  for  his  services.  In  1775  he  published  his  first  work,  "  Cursory  Remarks  made  in  a 
Tour  through  some  of  the  Northern  Parts  of  Europe,  &c."  which  went  through  several  editions.  In 
1780  he  was  returned  to  Parliament,  and  became  an  adherent  of  Pitt.  In  181o  he  was  created  a 
baronet.  In  1815  he  published  "  Historical  Memoirs  of  my  Own  Time  :"  an  indictment  for  libel  was 
brought  against  him  for  an  accusation  in  this  work  against  the  character  of  Count  Woronzow,  the 
Russian  Ambassador,  and  he  was  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  £  500  and  to  suffer  six  months  imprison- 
ment. His  publications  are  numerous  and  interesting,  but  not  always  to  be  relied  upon.  He  died 
Nov.  7,  1831. 

SIR  CHRISTOPHER  WREN,  KNT.,  P.R.S. 

This  great  Architect  was  born  at  East  Knoyle,  in  Wiltshire,  on  Oct.  20,  1632.     He  entered  as  a 
Gentleman  Commoner  at  Wadham  College,  Oxford,  in  1646,  graduated  in  Arts  in  1650,  and  was 


APPENDIX. 


263 


elected  Fellow  of  his  College  in  1653.  In  1057  he  was  chosen  Professor  of  Astronomy  in  Greshani 
College.  On  the  Restoration  he  was  appointed  Savilian  Professor  at  Oxford;  and  on  July  15,  1662, 
he  had  the  gratification  of  witnessing  the  incorporation  of  the  Royal  Society  by  a  charter  which  he 
had  been  instrumental  in  obtaining.  In  1663  he  commenced  the  Theatre  at  Oxford,  and  completed 
it  in  1668.  In  1669  he  was  appointed  Surveyor-General  of  the  Royal  Works,  and  in  1672 
presented  to  the  King  his  design  for  St.  Paul's  Cathedral ;  which,  although  approved  by  his  Majesty, 
was  objected  to  by  the  Commissioners,  and  Wren  was,  with  regret,  obliged  to  adapt  his  plan  to  their 
views.  The  first  stone  was  laid  June  21, 1675 ;  and  the  building  was  completed  in  thirty-five  years,  at 
the  small  cost  of  £  736,000.  Wren  was  knighted  Nov.  20, 1673.  In  1680  he  was  elected  President  of 
the  Royal  Society,  to  whose  "Transactions"  he  contributed  many  papers  on  the  exact  sciences, 
principally  on  Astronomy.  He  died  at  Hampton  Court,  on  Feb.  25,  1723. 


SIR  JEFFRY  WYATVILLE,  KNT.,  R.A., 

Was  born  in  1766,  at  Burton-upon-Trent,  and  was  educated  at  the  free-school  of  that  town.  His 
early  predilections  were  for  the  sea,  and  he  made  two  attempts  to  enter  that  service ;  the  first  at  the 
age  of  twelve,  and  the  other  two  years  afterwards,  but  was  on  both  occasions  brought  back.  Foiled 
in  these  and  other  attempts  to  enter  the  Naval  Service,  he  repaired  to  London,  where  his  uncle, 
Samuel  Wyatt,  an  architect  and  builder  of  some  repute,  took  him  into  his  office  for  seven  years.  At 
the  expiration  of  this  period  he  served  a  second  apprenticeship  with  another  uncle,  James,  from  whom 
he  imbibed  his  preference  for  Gothic  and  Old  English  Architecture,  and  obtained  an  introduction  to 
his  future  royal  patron,  the  Prince  of  Wales.  In  1799  he  entered  into  partnership  with  Mr.  Armstrong, 
an  extensive  government  contractor.  Although  this  engagement  was  very  lucrative,  it  was  a  bar  to 
his  admission  into  the  Royal  Academy  for  more  than  twenty  years,  not  being  admitted  an  Associate 
until  1822,  and  R.A.  in  1824.  In  1824  he  was  unexpectedly  summoned  to  Windsor  by  George  IV., 
and  employed  to  remodel  Windsor  Castle,  on  which  he  commenced  at  once.  In  the  same  year  his 
Majesty  laid  the  first  stone  of  "  King  George  IV. 's  Gateway,"  and  Wyatt  obtained  the  King's 
authority  for  the  addition  of  "  ville"  to  his  name,  to  distinguish  himself  from  other  architects  of  his 
own  name.  In- 1828  he  was  knighted,  on  his  Majesty's  taking  possession  of  the  private  apartments. 
The  completion  of  the  alterations  of  the  Castle,  at  a  cost  of  £700,000,  occupied  the  remainder  of 
his  life,  which  terminated  on  Feb.  18,  1840.  His  executors  published  by  his  directions  the  series  of 
designs  of  the  exterior  of  Windsor  Castle,  in  2vols.,  folio,  in  1841,  which  is  one  of  the  most  complete 
illustrations  of  the  exterior  of  any  edifice  ever  given  to  the  public. 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


A  BOOK  PRINTED  WITHOUT  AN  INDEX 

IS    LIKE   UNTO 

A    WATCH     WITHOUT    HANDS. 


ADAMS,  Sir  William. — Biographical  Notice   209 
ALCUINUS,  Flaccus. — Esteemed  by  Charle- 
magne as  a  man  of  letters  -       1 
ALEXANDER,    Sir    Edward. — Biographical 

Notice      -  -  -  209 

ALISON,      Sir     Archibald.  —  Biographical 

Notice      -  -  210 

ALLAN,  Sir  William — Biographical  Notice      ib. 
AMANUENSES  (The)  of  Milton  considered  171-95 

ANDEBDON,  John. — The  "Milton  Family 
Papers,"  purchased  of  Mr.  Thorpe,  and 
again  sold  by  Mr.  Anderdon  -  -  122-3 

ANDKEINI,     Giovanni-Battista — Note    of 

L'Adamo,  Sacra  Representatione         -     72 
Milton  probably  had  a  copy  when  in 
Italy,  1638  -     73 

Conceived  the  idea  of  "  Paradise  Lost" 
from  the  Adamo  -     73 

ANELAT,  Henry.— Picture  in  The  Crystal 
Palace  Gallery,  1860,  representing  Mil- 
ton dictating  to  a  Soldier  -  -  173 

ANTIQUARIES  of  London,  Society  of. — 
Fac-simile  of  Letter  from  Andrew 
Marvell,  preserved  in  "The  Milton  Slate 
Papers"  in  that  library,  plate  xxiv  -  190 
Particulars  respecting  "  The  Milton 
Papers"  -  -  195 

ARATI  Phtenomena. — Copy  of,  with  Auto- 
graph Notes  by  Milton       -  -  105 
Fac-simile  of  the  Notes  therein,  plate 
xiv            ....  .     97 


ARCADES.— Fac-simile  of  Page  I  from  the 

Trinity  College  Manuscript,  plate  I     -     51 
Date  of  its  Composition  according  to 
the  views  of  Warton,  Todd,  Keightley, 
and  Masson     -  -  51-2 

ARCH.SOLOGICAL  Society  of  London  and 
Middlesex — The  Meeting  at  the  Tower 
of  London  -  108 

ARCHIVES  OF  THE  COUNTRY Put  up  in 

Sacks  at  the  Tower   -  -  107 

ARKWRIGHT,    Sir    Richard — Biographical 

Notice      -  -         -  210 

ARMSTRONG,     Sir    William. — Biographical 

Notice      -  -  211 

Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded  142 

ARNOLD,  Christopher — His  Album  Ami- 
corum  in  the  British  Museum,  with  sig- 
nature of  Milton,  1651  -  -  -  113 

ASHBURNHAM      (SlOWE)     COLLECTION     OF 

MANUSCRIPTS. — Contains  an  Official 
Document,  dated  1654,  bearing  the 
Signature  of  Milton,  with  fac-simile, 
plate  xviii  -  128 

ATHEN^UM  (The)  JOURNAL  OF  LITERA- 
TURE.— Articles  on  The  Milton  Receipts 
for  Paradise  Lost  sold  in  the  Dawson 
Turner  Collection  -  139-40 

AUBREY,  John. — On  the  Date  of  the  Com- 
mencement of  Paradise  Lost  -  -  74 
Considered  Cyriac  Skinner  to  have  been 
the  person  to  whom  Milton  entrusted 
his  Manuscripts  of  the  De  Doctrind 
Christiana  and  State  Letters  -  -  159 


34 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


Extracts  from  his  Biographical  Memo- 
randa  of  Milton,    in   the    Ashmolean 
Museum  at  Oxford,  relating  to  the  Blind- 
ness and  Amanuenses  of  the  Poet     171-2 
On  the  Date  of  the  Death  of  Milton    -  168 
AUTOGRAPHY  ; — a  work  with  the  fac-similes 
of  the  several  styles  used  by  distin- 
guished persons  at  various  periods  of 
their  lives       -----  116-7 


BACK,  Sir  George. — Biographical  Notice    -  211 

BAKER,  Sir  George. — Biographical  Notice       ib. 

BAKER,  Sir  Richard. — A  Presentation  Copy 
of  his  Chronicle,  edited  by  C.  Phillips, 
with  Autograph  Inscription  to  the 
Bishop  of  London  -  165-89 

His  Chronicle,  the  best  history  of  the 
times  -  188 

BAKER,  Samuel,  Bookseller  and  Book- 
Auctioneer. — Founder  of  the  house  of 
Baker,  Leigh,  &  Sotheby;  Particulars 
respecting  him  and  the  Firm  -  -  201-2 

BAKER,  William,  of  Bayfordbury,  Herts. — • 
Possessor  of  the  Fair  Copy  of  the 
Manuscript  of  the  First  Book  of  Paradise 
Lost,  as  sent  to  be  licensed  -  165 

BANDINEL,  Rev.  Dr.  Bulkeley. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix     141 

BANKS,  Sir  Joseph. — Biographical  Notice     211 

BARROW,  Rev.  Dr.  Isaac. — Fac-simile  of  his 

Autograph,  plate  xxiii        -  -  164 

BARROW,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice  -  212 

BARRY,  Sir  Charles. — Biographical  Notice      ib. 

EARTH,  Henry,  C.B.— Biographical  Notice  213 

BATTAM,  Thomas,  junr.,  F.S.A. — Auto- 
graph Signature  when  blindfolded  -  142 

BEAUFORT,    Sir     Francis.  —  Biographical 

Notice      -  -  213 

BEECHEY,     Sir     William.  —  Biographical 

Notice      -  -     ib. 

BEEDHAH. — Typographical    Error    in    his 

name        -  -         -  110 

Information  respecting  Milton's  copy 
of  Lycophron  -         -   110-11 

Information  respecting  an  inscription 
on   the   autograph  of   Milton    in    the 
Library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin       -  121 
Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xix*  -         -         -         -  141 


BELCHER,      Sir      Edward.  —  Biographical 

Notice      -  -  214 

BELL,  Sir  Charles. — Biographical  Notice    -     ib. 
BENTHAM,      Sir      Samuel.  —  Biographical 

Notice      ------     ib. 

BETHAM,    Sir  Wm. — Biographical  Notice 
BINDLEY,  James. — Former  possessor  of  the 
copy  of  the  Arati  Phenomena,    with 
Autograph  Notes  by  Milton        -         -  105 
BIRCH,  Samuel,  F.S.A. — Autograph  Signa- 
ture when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*        -   141 
BIRCH,  Dr.  Thomas. — Former  possessor  of 
the  copy  of£eck's  Euripides,  with  Auto- 
graph Notes  by  Milton       -  -  108 
BISHOP,  Sir  Henry. — Biographical  Notice     215 
BLACKMORE,    Sir    Richard. — Biographical 

Notice      -         -  ib. 

BLANE,  Sir  Gilbert. — Biographical  Notice  216 
BLIZARD,  Sir  William. — Biographical  Notice  ib. 
BLOOD  in  Man. — Its  Influence  on  the  Dif- 
ferent Races  of  Man  and  Animals  -  46-7 
BLOUNT,  Sir  H. — Biographical  Notice  -  217 
BODLEIAN  LIBRARY,  Oxford. — Copy  of 

the  First  Edition  of  Venus  and  Adonis       5 
Copy  of  the  First  Edition  of  the  Poems 
of  Milton,  with  autograph  inscription 
to  Dr.  Rous   -  -  113-9 

Fac-simile  of  a  portion  of  the   same, 
plate  xvii  -          -   1 1 3 

Fac-simile  of  Inscription  in  the  volume 
of  Milton's  Polemical  Treatises  -  120 

BOHN,  Henry  G. — His  edition  of  Milton's 

Prose  Works,  edited  by  J.  A.  St.  John     18 
BOHN,    John.  —  Researches    at    Lambeth 
Palace  respecting  the  licence  of  Arch- 
bishop  Sheldon   for   the    printing    of 
Paradise  Lost   -  -   197 

BOSWELL,  Sir  A. — Biographical  Notice       -  217 
BOSWELL,  James. — Some  "  Milton  family 

Papers"  sold  with  his  library  in  1825   122-3 
BoxFiELD,Beriah,M.P.,F.S.A. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*  141 
BOURGEOIS,  Sir  F. — Biographical  Notice    -  217 
BOWRINO,  Sir  J. — Biographical  Notice       -  218 
BRADSHAW,  President — Letter  from  Milton, 
dated  1652,  preserved  in  Her  Majesty's 
State  Paper  Office  -130-1 

BHEWSTEB,  Sir  D. — Biographical  Notice    -  218 
BRITANNIA'S  PASTORALS,  see  BROWNE. 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


BRITISH    HISTORY.  —  Milton's    intended 

Epic  Poem       -  -  85-7 

BRITISH  MUSEUM. — Copy  of  the  Arati 
Phenomena,  with  Autograph  Notes  by 
Milton  -  -  105 

Copy  of  his  Monodie  to  the  memory  of 
Edward  King,  with  Autograph  Notes     150 
Inscription  with  Autograph  of  Milton, 
1681,    in    the    Album    of    Christopher 
Arnold     -  -  113 

Error  in  describing  a  letter  from  Martin. 
Luther  as  autograph  -  132 

Possesses  the  Deed  of  Assignment  of 
"Paradise  Lost"  to  S.  Simmons          -   135 
BRITISH  TRAGEDIES. — Fac-similes  of  Pages 
37  and  38  from  the  Trinity  College 
Manuscript,  plates  viii  and  ix      -          -     85 
BRODIE,  Sir  Benj. — Biographical  Notice     -  218 
BROTTGHTON,  George,  Bishop  of  Sydney. — 
The    Album    of    Camillus    Cardoyn, 
purchased  at  Geneva  by  his  son  -   107 

BROWNE,  Sir  T. — Biographical  Notice  -  219 
BROWNE,  Sir  W. — Biographical  Notice  -  219 
BROWNE,  William,  Poet. — Extract  from  his 

"  Britannia's  Pastorals "     -  -     55 

Copy  of  the  "Pastorals,"  with  Notes 
in  the  autograph  of  Milton  described  97-104 
Fac-similes  of  the  Manuscript  Notes, 
plate  xiv  -     97 

Extracts  from  the  work,  with  parallel 
passages  from  the  MS.  Notes          -  99-103 
BRUNEL,  Sir  I.  M. — Biographical  Notice  -  220 
BRYANT,  John. — Information  respecting  the 
source  whence  the  original  assignment 
of  "  Paradise  Lost"  was  obtained        -  203 
BRYDGES,    Sir    Egerton. — Opinion    of  the 

Biography  of  Milton  by  E.  Phillips    -  22-3 
Biographical  Notice  -  -  220 

BULWER,  Sir  H. — Biographical  Notice  -  220 
BURGUNDY,  Philip,  Duke  of. — The  great 

patron  of  literature,  science,  and  art    -       2 
BURNETT,  Sir  W. — Biographical  Notice     -  221 


CALLCOTT,  Sir  A. — Biographical  Notice      -  221 
CAMBRIDGE. — Suppression  of  the  Players 

within  five  miles  of  the  University       -       9 
Comedy  represented  there  by  desire  of 
the  Queen  Elizabeth,  1594          -         -     10 


CORPUS  CHHISTI  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
contains  the  collection  of  Manuscripts 
and  Books  formed  by  Archbishop  Parker  96 
TRINITY  COLLEGE  LIBRARY. — The 
volume  containing  the  juvenile  and 
other  poems  of  Milton  in  his  autograph 
described  -  -  49-95 

Fac-similes  of  Pages  1,  13,  31-35,  36, 
39,  40,  43,  etc.,  plates  i  to  xxii  inclu- 
sive -  -     51 
Among  Sir  Henry  Puckering's  Books 
many  from  the  Library  of  Prince  Henry     50 
Fac-similes    of    the    Handwriting    of 
Prince  Henry  from  his  "  Copy  Books" 
preserved  in  the  Library     -                   -   115 
Autograph  Signatures  of  Milton  in  the 
Graduation  Book  at  Christ  College  -  124-5 
Fac-similes  of  signatures  dated  1628-9 
and  1632,  plate  xviii                               -   124 
CAMDEN,  Lord. — "  Glory  is  the  Reward  of 

Science"  -  142 

CARDOUIN  FAMILY,  The  Album  of  the. — • 
Inscription  therein  in  the  autograph  of 
Milton,  dated  1639  -  73 

Fac-simile  of  the  same,  plate  xiv  79 

Note  of  the  contents  of  the  Album      -   106 
CARLISLE,  Sir  A. — Biographical  Notice      -  221 
CHADWICK,  Edwin. — Biographical  Notice     222 
CHAMBERS,  Sir  Wm. — Biographical  Notice  222 
CHANTREY,  Sir  Francis. — Employed  when 
a  journeyman  carpenter  by  the  Poet 
Rogers  at  a  guinea  a  week  -  136 

Biographical  Notice  -  -  222 

CHARLEMAGNE,    or    Charles    I.,    King   of 

France. — His  respect  for  men  of  letters       1 
CHARLES  L,  King  of  England. — History  of 

his  reign,  not  yet  faithfully  written  -  187-8 
CHARLES  II.,  King  of  England. — Anecdote 
of  his   Interview  with  the   Poet  after 
the  Restoration  -     40 

CHAUCER,  Geoffrey. — Received  at  Court     -       4 
CLARK,  Sir  James. — Biographical  Notice  -  223 
CLARKE,  Sir  C.  M. — Biographical  Notice  -  223 
CLARKE,  Abraham,  the  Husband  of  Deborah, 
the   youngest   daughter    of   Milton. — 
Fac-simile  of  his  Autograph  Signature 
to  a  Deed,  Feb.  22,  1674  -  -  179 

CLARKE,  J.  W.,  of  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge.— The  acknowledgment  of  the 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


Author  for  aid  received  in  the  progress 

of  this  work      -  -     96 

CHEETHAM  SOCIETY. — Notice  of  "Papers 
connected  with  the  affairs  of  Milton  and 
his  Family,"  Transactions,  vol.  i,  1851  123 

COLE,  Henry. — Biographical  Notice  -         -  224 

COLEBIDGE,    Samuel    Taylor. — Quotation 

from  his  praise  of  poetry    -  -4 

COLLIES,  J.  Payne,  F.S.A. — Annals  of  the 

Stage,  p.  7,  note,  ib.  -       8 

Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xis*  -  141 

COLLINS,  William,  the  Poet. — His  sad  end     43 

COMUS. — Fac-simile  of  the  first  page  of  the 
Autograph  in  Trinity  College  Library, 
Cambridge,  plate  ii  -  -  60 

The  origin  of  the  "Maske"  described  by 
Mr.  Keightley  from  the  works  of  others     61 
Note  of  the  Original  Edition,  1637      -     ib. 

COOPER,  Sir  A.  P. — Biographical  Notice    -  22-1 

COUNCIL  OF  STATE. — Order  Books  in  State 
Paper  Office  recording  the  appointment 
of  the  Poet  by  Cromwell  as  Latin 
Secretary 

COWFEB,  William,  the  Poet. — Translation 
of  the  Latin  Ode  addressed  to  Dr. 
Rous  in  the  presentation  copy  by  Mil- 
ton of  the  first  edition  of  his  poems  117-9 

Cox,    Rev.    Henry    Octavius. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*  141 

CKADOCK,  Joseph. — Former  Possessor  of 
the  copy  of  Beck's  Euripides,  with 
Autograph  Notes  by  Milton  -  -  108 

CBAMPTON,  Sir  P. — Biographical  Notice     -  225 

CHOMPTON,  Thomas. — 111  rewarded  as  the 

Inventor  of  the  Mule  Spindle      -         -       2 

CROMWELL,  Oliver. — His  want  of  generosity 

and  gratitude  to  Milton      -  -     32 

The  devotedness  of  the  Poet  to   the 
Cause  of  Cromwell     -  -         -     33 

Fac-simile   of  Sonnet  XVI  from  the 
Trinity   College    Manuscript    by    the 
Electro  Printing  Block  Company         -     91 
His  ingratitude  to  Milton  -         -         -     92 
Eulogy  of  Milton  on  Cromwell    -         -     93 

CRYSTAL  PALACE  at  Sydenham  (The). — 
The  Staircase  and  Panelling  of  the 
Room  occupied  by  Dr.  Johnson  in 
Inner  Temple  Lane,  there  preserved  -  65 


CUBITT,  Sir  William. — Biographical  Notice  225 
CULLUM,  Sir  Thomas  Gery. — Possessor  of 
the  original  Receipt  given  by  Milton  to 
S.   Simmons  for  the  sale  of  Paradise 
Lost    in    1667,    and    of   that   by    his 
widow  in  1680  for  her  interest  therein    137 
GUMMING,  Rev.  John. — View  of  the  uni- 
versal  "Love  of  Learning"   and   in- 
crease of  every  branch  of  science  in 
the  present  century  -  -  44-5 


DALYELL,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice    225 
DANIEL,   Samuel,  Poet. — Appointment  at 

Court        -         -  -       5 

DATI,  Carlo. — Extract  from  a  letter  from 

Milton  to  him  on  his  future  course  of  life     16 
Fac-simile  of  the  commencement  and 
ending  of  autograph  letter  from  Milton 
to  Dati      -  -  122 

DAVENANT,  Sir  William,  Poet. — Appoint- 
ment at  Court  -  -  -       5 
Friend  of  Milton        -  -     1 1 
His  influence  in  saving  Milton  at  the 
Restoration        -  -     38 
Biographical  Notice  -  -  226 
DAVIES,  Sir  John,  Poet. — Appointment  at 

Court        -  -       5 

DAVIES,  Thomas,  Bookseller. — Purchase  of 

Goldsmith's  History  of  Englandfor  £500  43 
DAYIS,  Sir  John  F — Biographical  Notice  -  226 
DAYIS,  Miss.  —  The  design  of  Milton  to 

make  her  his  wife      -  -     21 

Sonnet  IX  evidently  intended  to  be 
addressed  by  the  Poet  to  her  on  his 
giving  up  all  hope  of  being  married  to 
her  -  -  58-60 

DAVY,  Sir  Humphrey — Biographical  Notice  226 
DEKKEK,  Thomas. — One  of  a  Company  of 

Players    -  -      5 

DE  LA  BECHE,  Sir  H. — Biographical  Notice  226 
DENHAM,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice  -  227 
DEPTFOBD.— Great  neglect  of  the  Historical 
Documents  of  the  Country  there  depo- 
sited for  many  years  -  107 
D'IsRAELi,  Isaac. — Quotation  from  "The 

Literary  Character"  -  1 

Estimate  of  the  literary  qualities  of 
James  I.  -  -  -  4 


INDEX  OP  CONTENTS. 


DIXON,  W.  Hepworth,  F.S.A. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*  141 

DOCTKINA  CHRISTIAN  A(DE)  by  MILTON  142a-64 
Bishop  Sumner's  view  of  its  merit      -  142b 
The  work  not  alluded  to  by  Johnson  in 
his  biography  of  the  Poet,  though  re- 
corded among  the  pursuits  of  the  Poet   144 
The  Author's  Preface  to  the  Work    148-50 
The   Review   of  the   Work   by   Lord 
Macaulay  as  a  vehicle  for  his  Essay  on 
Milton  -  -  151-3 

THE  AUTOGRAPH  of  the  De  Doctrind 
Christiana  considered  and  illustrated 
with  fac-similes, plates  xx,xxi, and  xxii  154-64 
The  discovery  by  Mr.  Lemon  of  the 
Manuscript  of  the  Work  in  the  State 
Paper  Office,  and  his  opinion  respect- 
ing it  -  -  154-7 

DORIGNY,  Sir  N. — Biographical  Notice      -  227 

DOVER. — Supposed  destruction  there  of  the 

Historical  Documents  of  the  Country      107 

DRAMA  (Early)  in  England        -  -     71 

Performances  on  Sundays  -  -       9 

DKUMMOND,  Sir  Wm. — Biographical  Notice  227 

DRYDEN,  John,   Poet. — His  ill-success  in 

life  -  -     44 

Anecdote  respecting  his  view  of  the 
merits  of  Paradise  Lost     -  -  78-9 

DUBLIN. — Fac-simile  of  Autograph  In- 
scription in  a  presentation  copy  of 
Milton's  "Treatise  on  Church  Disci- 
pline" in  Trinity  College  Library  -  121 

DUGDALE,  Sir  Wm. — Biographical  Notice     227 

Du  MOULIN,  Peter. — His  celebrated  work 
on  the  murder  of  King  Charles  re- 
ferred to 25 


EASTLAKE,  Sir  Chas. — Biographical  Notice   228 
ELLWOOD,     Thomas. — Extracts    from    his 
Autobiography  of  all   his   intercourse 
with   Milton;    also  a  facsimile   of  his 
autograph  signature         -  -   191-4 

ELECTRO  PRINTING  BLOCK  COMPANY. — 
Fac-simile  of  the  Autograph  Sonnet  by 
Milton  on  his  twenty-third  year,  from 
the  Trinity  College  Manuscript  -  -  14 
Note  of  the  Inventions  worked  by  the 
Company,  and  their  application  to 
works  of  art,  etc.  -  -  15 


Fac-similes  of  Sonnets  VIII  and  IX  by 
the  Processes  of  the  Company  -         -  57-8 
Fac-simile  of  Sonnet  XVI  to  Cromwell     91 
Fac-similes  of  the  Handwriting  of  the 
renowned     Prince     Henry,    from    his 
"Copy  Books,"  preserved  in  Trinity 
College  Library,  Cambridge         -         -   115 
Fac-simile  of  Autograph  Inscription  by 
Milton  in  a  volume  of  his  Polemical 
Treatises  presented  to  Dr.  Rous  -  120 

Fac-simile  of  commencement  and  end- 
ing of  autograph  letter  from  Milton  to 
Carlo  Dati  -  122 

Fac-similes  of  Autograph  Signatures 
when  blindfolded,  with  four  specimens 
of  the  processes  of  reduction  of  the 
same  -  142 

ELIZABETH,   Queen   of  England. — Distin- 
guished for  her  literary  abilities  -       4 
Edict  against  the  Players    -  -       5 
Grant  to  John  Perkyns       -  -       8 
Desires     to     uphold     the     "Art    and 
Facultie"     of    Players,     and    desires 
Comedies  to  be  performed  at  Cambridge       9 
Annuls  her  protection  to  the  Players 
except  by  license       -  -     10 

ELLIS,  Sir  Henry,  F.S.A.,  etc. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*  141 
Fac-simile  of  his  Autograph,  plate  xxiii  164 
Biographical  Notice  -  -  228 

ELSEVIER,  Daniel. — His  connection  with 
the  publication  of  an  edition  of  the 
Letters  of  State  by  Milton  -  160 

ENT,  Sir  George. — Biographical  Notice       -  228 

EPITAPHIUM  DAMONIS. — Lines  161  to  177 

on  British  History    -  -  86-7 

EURIPIDIS  TRAGCEDI.S:,  1602. — Copy  with 

Notes  in  the  autograph  of  Milton  -  108-10 
Fac-similes  of  the  Notes,  plate  xv  -  108 

EYTON,  J.  Walter  King,  F.S.A. — Auto- 
graph Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xix*  -  141 

FAIRFAX,  General  Lord. — Fac-simile  of 
Sonnet  XV,  from  the  Trinity  College 
Manuscript,  plate  xii  -  90 

His  allegiance  to  his  King  -     ib. 

FAMILY  HERALD  Periodical  (The). — Quo- 
tation from  Article  on  Poetry,  the 
Poet,  and  the  Poetic  Principle  -  -  3 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


FELLOWS,  Sir  Chas — Biographical  Notice     229 
FELLOWES,  Rev  Robert. — His  Translation 
of  the  Autobiography  of  the  Poet  from 
Bohn's  edition  of  the  Prose  Works      25-31 
FORBES,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice     -  229 
FOBD,  M.,  Bookseller  of  Manchester. — Note 
as  the  former  possessor  of  the  copy  of 
the  "Britannia's  Pastorals"  by  Browne, 
with  Manuscript  Notes  in   the   auto- 
graph of  Milton        -  -  97-8 
FOBGERIES. — Literary  and  Antiquarian      -     98 
Foss,  Henry. — Autograph  Signature  when 

blindfolded,  plate  six*       -  -  141 

His  permission  as  "  Master  of  the 
Honourable  Stationers'  Company"  to 
copy  entry  relating  to  the  printing 
of  Paradise  Lost  -  -  197 

FOSTER,  John. — Autograph  Signature  when 

blindfolded,  plate  xix*  -  -  -  141 
Fox,  Sir  Charles. — Biographical  Notice  -  229 
FRANKLIN,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice  229 
FRENCH,  Gilbert. — His  Life  and  Times  of 

T.  Crompton     -  -       2 

FULLER,    Francis. — Autograph    Signature 

when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*       -         -  141 


GARDINER,  William,  the  eccentric  Book- 
seller.— His  character  of  George  Leigh, 
of  the  firm  of  Leigh  &  Sotheby  -  202 

GARTH,  Sir  Samuel. — Biographical  Notice     230 

GEI.L,  Sir  William. — Biographical  Notice      230 

GENTLEMAN'S  MAGAZINE  (The). — Copy  of 
the  fac-simile  of  the  receipt  by  Milton 
for  the  sale  of  Paradise  Lost,  from 
number  for  July  1822  -  137 

GEORGE  IV  of  England. — Commanded  the 
De  Doctrind  Christiana  of  Milton  to 
be  translated  by  Bishop  Sumner  -  147 

GILL,  Alexander. — Schoolmaster  to  Milton; 

Letter  from  the  Poet,  1634  52 

GODWIN,  William. — His  Political  Opinions 
in  the  Lives  of  Edward  and  John 
Phillips  -  -  23 

Extracts   from  his  Memoir  of  Edward 
Phillips  -  185-7 

GOLDSMITH,  Oliver. — Extracts  from  his 
"Inquiry  into  the  Present  State  of 
Polite  Learning"  -  -  42-3 


Assistance  received  through  Dr.  John- 
son when  reduced  to  poverty       -         -     43 
His  History  of  England  purchased  by 
Tom  Davies,  the  Bookseller,  for  £500      43 
GORDON,  Sir  Jno.  W. — Biographical  Notice  230 
GRAY,  Dr.  John  Edward. — Autograph  Sig- 
nature when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*    -  141 
GREY,  Sir  George. — Biographical  Notice    -  230 
GROVE,  George,  Secretary  to  The  Crystal 
Palace  Company. — Autograph    Signa- 
ture when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*         -  141 

HALFORD,  Sir  Henry. — Present  Possessor 
of  the  copy  of  Beck's  Euripides,  with 
Autograph  Notes  by  Milton  -  109 

Biographical  Notice  -  231 

HALL,  Joseph,  Bishop  of  Norwich. — Note 

on  Milton's  Treatise  of  Divorce  -     18 

HALL,  Samuel  Carter,  F.S.A. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*  141 

HALLAM,  Henry. — Lines  on  the  Muse  of 

Milton  41 

Eulogistic  Lines  on  the  Muse  of  Milton     70 
Opinion  on  William  Browne  as  a  Poet      97 
Proposed  Monument  to  him  in  West- 
minster Abbey  97 

HALLIWELL,  James  Orchard,  F.H.S.,  F.S.A. 
— Reference  to  his  Folio  Edition  of 
Shakespeare  -  -  6 

HAMILTON,  Sir  Wm. — Biographical  Notice  231 

HAMILTON,  William  Douglas. — His  errone- 
ous transcript  of  passages  from  the 
Order  Book  of  the  Council  of  State 
respecting  the  amount  entered  to  be 
paid  to  Milton  for  his  Answer  to  Sal- 
masius  -  -  35 

Original  Papers  from  the  State  Paper 
Office  72 

His  want  of  minute  accuracy  in  copy- 
ing the  letter  from  Milton  to  President 
Bradshaw  -  131 

His  observation  on  the  researches  of 
Archdeacon  Todd  in  connection  with 
the  Milton  Documents  in  the  State 
Paper  Office  -  154 

HARE,  Francis,  Bishop  of  Chichester. — 
Former  Possessor  of  the  copy  of  Beck's 
Euripides,  with  Autograph  Notes  by 
Milton  -  108 

HARRIS,  Sir  Wm.  S.— Biographical  Notice  231 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


HAKTLIB,  Samuel. — Quotation  from  the 
letter  of  Milton  to  Hartlib  upon  the 
merits  of  dramatic  authors  -  10 

HAKTOB,  Jonathan. — Lent  the  Poet,   soon 

after  the  Restoration,  the  sum  of  £50   38-9 
HARTSHORNE,Rev. Charles  Henry,  F.S.A. — 
Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xix*  -  141 

HAWKINS,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice   232 
HAWKINS,    B.    Waterhouse. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*  141 
HAWKINS,  Dr. — View  of  the  Biography  of 

Milton  by  E.  Phillips  24 

HAYLEY,   William. — On   the  Date  of  the 

Death  of  Milton  -   168 

HAYTEK,  Sir  George. — Biographical  Notice  232 
HEAD,  Sir  F.  B.— Biographical  Notice       -  232 
HEBEK,  Richard. — Former  Possessor  of  the 
copy  of  the   Arati  Phenomena,    with 
Autograph  Notes  by  Milton        -         -  105 
Copy    of    the    Amoroso    Comivio    by 
Dante,  1529,  in  his  collection,  Part  IV, 
No.  1527,  with  autograph  signature  of 
Milton,  dated  1629  -   124 

Fac-simile  of  the  same,  plate  xviii        -     ib. 
HENRY,    Prince,    son   of  James   I. — Many 
volumes   from  his  library  bequeathed 
to  Trinity  College,   Cambridge,  by  Sir 
Henry  Puckering       -  -     50 

HERBERT,  Sir  Thos. — Biographical  Notice    232 
HERRING,     Charles,     Bookbinder.  —  Pur- 
chaser of  the  Cardoyn  Album      -         -  107 
Purchaser  of  the  Amoroso  Convivio  of 
Dante,    with    autograph    signature   of 
Milton      -  -   124 

HERSCHEL,  Sir  J.  F. — Biographical  Notice   233 
HEYWOOD,  Thomas. — One  of  a  Company 

of  Players  -       5 

HILL,  Sir  Rowland. — Biographical  Notice     233 
HOLLAND,   Sir  Henry. — Biographical  No- 
tice •  233 
HOLLAND,    Lancelot. — His    copy    of    the 
fourth    issue    of   the   first   edition   of 
Paradise  Lost   -                                       -     81 
HOME,  Sir  Everard. — Biographical  Notice     234 
HOOKER,  Sir  Wm.  J. — Biographical  Notice  234 
HOPPER,   Clarence. — Considered  the  letter 
of  Milton  to  President  Bradshaw,  1684, 
to  be  autograph          -                             -  133 


His  opinion  as  to  the  date  of  the 
blindness  of  the  Poet  -  133 

HOWARD,  Earl  of  Surrey. — Honoured  as  a 

Poet  -       4 

HUGO,  Rev.  Thomas,  F.S.A. — Cicerone 
over  the  Tower  of  London  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Archaeological  Society 
of  London  and  Middlesex  -  -  108 

HUNTER,  Rev.  Joseph,  F.S.A. — On  the 
various  modes  of  spelling  the  name  of 
Shakespeare  -  -  6 

Sheaf  of  (Miltonic)  Gleanings     -         -     72 
Note  of  the  Album  of  the  Cardouin 
Family     -  -     73 

Observations  upon  the  Autograph 
Signatures  and  Notes  in  a  copy  of 
the  Natura  Brevium  of  Fitz-Herbert  -  126 

INTELLECTUALITY. — The  special  gift  of 
the  Creator,  distributed  more  or  less 
among  mankind  -  -  45-6 

INTERLUDES  and  Plays     -  -       7 

IRONSIDES  (The) ;  a  Tale  of  the  English 
Commonwealth. — A  modern  novel  of 
singular  conceit  reviewed  by  the 
Literary  Gazette  -  -  188-9 

IVES,  Mr. — Possessor  of  a  Receipt  from 

Milton,  1649,  with  autograph  signature  125 

JAMES  I.,  King  of  England. — Distinguished 

as  a  poet  and  literary  man  -       4 

His  "Amicable"  Letter  to  Shakespeare       6 

JOHNSON,  Dr.  Samuel. — His  illiberal  view 
of  the  position  of  Milton  in  his  scho- 
lastic duties       -  -     16 
Believed  that  the  Poet  received  £1,000 
for  his  Answer  to  Salmasius        -         -     33 
Assistance  rendered  by  him  to  Oliver 
Goldsmith  43 
The    Staircase    and    Panelling    of   his 
Room  in  Inner  Temple  Lane,  now  in  the 
Crystal  Palace  at  Sydenham        -         -     65 
Opinion    on    the    merits    of    Paradise 
Lost      -                                                 -  68-70 
On  the  Sale  of  Paradise  Lost      -         -     77 
Loan  to  him  of  Milton's  copy  of  Beck's 
Euripides                                                  -  108 
View  of  the  Theological  Opinions  of 
Milton                                                  -  144-5 
His  Prayers  and  Meditations   -          -   145-7 
On  the  Date  of  the  Death  of  Milton    -  168 
Ridicules  the  idea  of  the  Daughters  of 


INDEX  OF  CONTEXTS. 


Milton  having  assisted  their  father  in 
the  capacity  of  his  Amanuenses      -  1 79-80 
JONES,  Sir  William. — Biographical  Notice     234 
JONES,    J.    Winter,    F.S.A. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xis.*  141 
JOXSOK,  Ben,  Poet — Public  Neglect  of  him      5 

K  AXE,  Sir  Robert. — Biographical  Notice    -  234 

KAT-SHCTTLEWORTH,  Sir  James  Philips. — 

Biographical  Notice  -  235 

KEIOHTLET,  Thomas. — In  his  Biography  of 
the  Poet  does  not  give  very  accurately 
the  extracts  from  the  Order  Book  of 
the  Council  of  State  respecting  the 
payment  of  monies  to  the  Poet  for  his 
Answer  to  Salmasius  -  -  -  34 

Summary  of  the  pecuniary  position  of 
the  Poet  before  and  after  the  Restora- 
tion -  -     39 
Origin  of  the  Mask  Comus  described 
from  the  works  of  others    -         -         -     61 
Origin    of  the   Monodie    Lycidas  re- 
corded   -                                     -         -  62-3 
On  the  Date  when  Paradise  Lotl  was 
commenced      -                                     -  73-4 
Mistaken  Opinion  of  the   Autograph 
of  Milton's  Letter  to  President  Brad- 
shaw,  1654       -                                    -  132 

KHKLLER,  Sir  G. — Biographical  Notice      -  235 

KING,  Edward. — His  death  the  occasion  of 
the  Monodie  Lycidas,  from  the  pen  of 
his  friend  Milton  -  -  -  63 

Note  of  the   first  appearance   of  the 
Monodie  -  -     63 

KINGSLET,  the  Rev.  Charles. — Erroneously 
quotes  the  Act  of  Elizabeth  respect- 
ing the  "  Players "  -  -  10 

KNIGHT,    Charles. — Autograph    Signature 

when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*       -         -  141 

LAVARIINE,    Alphonse    de.  —  Considered 
Milton  to  have  been  divorced  from  his 
Wife                                                         -     18 
Considered  that  Milton  received  £1000 
for  his  Answer  to  Salmasius        -         -     34 
His  belief  in  the  report  of  the  death  of 
Milton  on  the  Restoration                    -     40 
Anecdote  of  his  interview  with  King 
Charles  II. 40 


"All    great    minds    anticipate    their 
future  glory"  -  142a 

View  of  the  melancholy  position  of  the 
Widow  of  Milton       -  -  183 

His  introduction  of  the  author  to  Mr. 
Baker,  of  Bayfordbury        -  -  165 

LANDSEER,  Sir  Edwin.— Biographical  Notice  235 

LAUD,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. — Lines 
in  Lycidas  supposed  to  foretel  his 
downfall 66 

LA  WES,  Henry. — A  friend  of  Milton  -     13 

In    the    service    of  the    Countess    of 
Derby  when  Arcades  was  performed    -     52 
Fac-similes    of   Sonnet   from    Milton, 
from  page  43  of  the  Trinity  College 
Manuscript,  plate  xi  -     88 

LAWREXCE,  SirThos. — Biographical  Notice  236 

LA^VSOS,  Rev.  W.  L. — Autograph  Signa- 
ture when  blindfolded,  plate  six*  -  141 

LECHMERE,  Charles. — His  attestation  to 
the  account  by  Mr.  Lemon  of  his  dis- 
covery of  the  Manuscript  of  the  De 
DoctrinA  Christiana  in  the  State  Paper 
Office  -  -  154-5 

LEEK,    Sir    Francis.  —  His    Company    of 

Players     -  -       7 

LEICESTER,    Earl    of. — His    Company    of 

Players     -  -   8-9 

LEIGH,  George,  of  the  house  of  Leigh  & 
Sotheby. — His  Character,  by  Gardiner, 
of  Pall  Mall  -  -  202 

LELT,  Sir  Peter. — Biographical  Notice       -  236 

LEMON,  Mark. — Autograph  Signature  when 

blindfolded,  plate  xix*        -  -  141 

LEXON,  Robert,  F.S.A. — His  view  of  the  sum 
of  money  ordered  by  the  Council  of  State 
to  be  paid  to  Milton  for  his  Answer  to 
Salmasius  -  -  -  34 

Assistance  rendered  by  him  to  Arch- 
deacon Todd  and  Bishop  Sumner   in 
their  Miltonian  labours       -         -         -     34 
His  discovery  of  the  original  manuscript 
of  the  work  in  the  State  Paper  Office  154-7 
List  of  the  Letters  of  State  discovered 
at  the  same  time        -         ...  155 
His  belief  that  the  Manuscript  of  the 
De  Doctrina   Christiana  was  the  joint 
autograph    of    E.    Phillips    and    the 
daughters  of  Milton  -  -  15G 

Discovered  his  error  after  the  publica- 


INDEX  OF  CONTEXTS. 


tion  of  the  translation  by  Bishop  Sum- 
ner,  and  found  the  manuscript  and 
copies  of  State  Letters  to  be  in  the 
autograph  of  Daniel  Skinner  -  -  159 

LEMOK,  Robert,  jun.,  F.S.A. — His  aid  to 
the  author  in  investigating  the  auto- 
graph of  the  De  Doctrind  Christiana  -  154 
His  attestation  to  the  account  of  the 
discovery  of  the  manuscript  of  the 
De  Doctrin'i  Christiana  -  -  154-5 

LEO  X.,  Pope. — Patron  of  Literature  and 

Art  -       2 

LESLIE,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Xotice     -  236 

LETTERS    OF    STATE,    1694. — Written   by 

Milton      -  -     18 

Poems  therein  -         -     19 

Introduction  written  by  E.  Phillips      -     tJ. 
Mr.  St.  John  considers  the  work  to 
have  appeared  under  the  care  of  Toland     19 
Extract   from    the    Biography    of   the 
Poet  by  E.  Phillips  touching  his  mar- 
riage       -  -  20-1 

LITERATURE,  Science,  and  Art. — Faculties 
specially  bestowed  on  men  in  their 
various  gradations  for  the  cultivation 
of  their  fellow-labourers  -  -  -  48 
Men  so  gifted  frequently  despise  the 
want  of  it  in  others  -  -  ii. 

LITERARY  GAZETTE  (The). — Extract  rela- 
tive to  the  encouragement  given  to 
men  of  Literature,  Science,  and  Art  -  45 

LOFFT,  Capel. — On  the  Errata  of  the  First 

Edition  of  Paradise  Lost     -         -         -     84 

LUTHER,  Martin. — His  violence  in  the  Re- 
formation of  the  Church      -         -         -     33 
Letter  from  him  to  the  Emperor  Charles 
V.    erroneously    stated  at  the   British 
Museum  to  be  autograph    -         -         -  132 
His  skill  in  caligraphy         -  -     ib. 

LTCIDAS. — Fac-simile  of  the  First  Page  of 
the  Monodie  from  Trinity  College  Manu- 
script, plate  iii  -  -     62 
Origin  of  the  Monodie  recorded          -  62-3 
Satirical    Lines    against    the     Clergy 
presumed    to    be    prophetical    of   the 
downfall  of  Archbishop  Laud      -         -     65 
Copy  in  British  Museum,  with  Auto- 
graph Notes  by  Milton       -         -         -  105 
Fac- similes   of  the  Autograph  Notes, 
plate  xiv  ------     97 


LYCOPHRON. — Milton's  Copy  presumed  to 
be  in  the  possession  of  the  Earl  of 
Charlemont  -  -  110 

LYDGATE,  John. — Honoured  as  a  Poet        -       4 
LTELL,  Sir  Charles. — Biographical  Notice     237 
LYTTLETOK,  Dr.  Adam — His   use   of  the 
Manuscript    Dictionary   of  the   Latin 
Language  compiled  by  Milton     -         -  127 
LYTTON,  Sir  E.  L.  B.— Biographical  Notice  237 

MACAUIAT,    Lord. — Eulogistic    Lines    on 

Milton      -  -     70 

Buried  in  "Westminster  Abbey     -         -     97 
His  review  of  The  Treatise  of  Christian 
Doctrine,  by  Milton,  and  his  Essay  on 
Milton  -  -   151-3 

Biographical  Notice  -  237 

M'DowALt,    Walter. — Autograph    Signa- 
ture when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*         -  141 
MACLTTRE,  Sir  R.  J. — Biographical  Notice     238 
M'CLIXTOCK,  Sir  F — Biographical  Notice    238 
M'GRIGOR,  Sir  James. — Biographical  Notice  238 
MACKINTOSH,  Sir  Jas. — Biographical  Notice  239 
MACSEIL,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice     239 
MADDEN,  Sir  Frederick,  F.S.A.,  etc. — His 
opinion  of    The    3Iilton    Receipts  for 
Paradise    Lost,    sold   in    the    Dawson 
Collection  -   138 

Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xix*          -----  141 
Biographical  Notice  -  240 

MAGUIBE,  Thomas. — Autograph  Signature 

when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*       -         -  141 
MAJOR,  R.  H.,  F.S.A. — Autograph  Signa- 
ture when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*         -  141 
MALONB,  Edmund. — Note  on  his  Copy  of 

the  first  edition  of  "Venus  and  Adonis"       5 
MARLOWE,  Thomas. — One  of  a  Company 

of  Players  5 

MARSH,   John   Fitchett. — Opinion   on   the 
various  Biographies  of  Milton     - 
Papers  connected  with  the  affairs  of 
Milton  and  his  Family       -         -         -     72 
Particulars  of  the  said  Papers  -   122-3 

Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xix*  -  141 

Memoir     of    Deborah,    the    youngest 
Daughter  of  Milton  -  -         -  1 78 

MARSHAM,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice  240 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


MAEVELL,  Andrew. — Letter  from  Milton 
recommending  him  to  President  Brad- 
shaw  for  employment  -  -  130-1 

Fac-simile  of  his  autograph,  plate  xxiv  190 

MART,   Queen. — Her  Proceedings  against 

the  Players       -  -7 

MASSOX,  David.— His  Life  of  the  Poet  23 

MASSY,  R.  Tuthill,  M.D.— Autograph  Sig- 
nature when  blindfolded,  plate  six*  -  141 

MELANCHTHON,  Philip. — His  penchant  for 

varying  the  orthography  of  his  name   -       6 
The  Pen  of  the  Reformation       -  33 

The  Amanuensis  of  Luther  in  the  case 
of  a  letter  to  the  Emperor  Charles  V.      132 
His  Skill  in  Caligraphy      -  -     ib. 

MEVKICK,  Sir  S.  R. — Biographical  Notice     240 

MILNES,  Richard  Monckton. — Present  Pos- 
sessor of  an  Excise  Document  bearing 
the  Signature  of  Milton,  dated  1660    -  129 
Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xix*          -         -  -  141 

MILTON,  John,  the  Father  of  the  Poet  — 
The  date  of  his  leaving  Horton  not 
recorded  -  -  -  63 

MILTON,  Mrs.,  the  Mother  of  the  Poet. — 

Buried  at  Horton,  April  3,  1634  64 

MILTON. — His  first  ideas  for  "  Paradise 
Lost"  taken  from  the  Representations 
of  "  Sacred  Mysteries  "  in  Italy  -  7 

On  writing  "  Comus,"  did  not  have  a 
high  opinion  of  Dramatic  Authors    -  10-11 
His  respect  for  the  observance  of  Sun- 
day, and  his  occupation  on  Sundays    -     11 
His  juvenile  Poems,  first  published  in 
1645  -     12 

The  Preface  by  the  Publisher  of  them  12-13 
His  early  sentiments  when  at  College 
on  Religion       -  -     13 

His  love  of  learning  and  retirement     13-14 
Sonnet  on  his  Twenty-third  Birthday        14 
His  future  course  of  life,  in  a  letter  to 
Carlo  Diodati    •  -     1 6 

Undertakes  the  Education  of  the  two 
Sons  of  Mrs.  Phillips,  his  Sister  -     16 

Journey  to  Italy,  1638  -     16 

Ungenerous  View  of  Dr.  Johnson  on 
the  occupation  of  Milton  as  a  Tutor     -     il>. 
Received  a  few  Pupils  in  1647,  when  he 
removed  to  Holborn  -     1 7 

Issued,  in  1641,  Treatises  on  the  Doc- 


trine  and   Discipline   of   the    Church     17 
Married  Mary  Powell  in  1643     -          -     ib. 
Poems  in  the  Letters  of  State,  1694     -     19 
Design  for  appointing  the  Poet  Adju- 
tant-General in  Sir  William  Waller's 
Army,  a  fact  doubted  by  Archdeacon 
Todd  21 

Autobiography  of  the  Poet  from  his 
Second  Defence  of  the  People  of  Eng- 
land, 1654  -     25 
His    Devotedness    to    the    Cause    of 
Cromwell  -     33 
His  Receipt  of  £1,000  for  the  Answer 
to  Salmasius,  believed  by  Toland  and 
Johnson             -  33 
Employed  by  the  Council  of  State  to 
do  other  work  than  what  belonged  to 
the  Duties  of  Latin  Secretary    -         -  35-7 
Project   of  making   Milton  Adjutant- 
General     in     Sir     William     Waller's 
Army        -                                               -     37 
Believed   to   have   been  saved  at  the 
Restoration   by   the   Influence   of  Sir 
William  Davenant     -                                 38 
Received  a  Loan  of  £50  from  Jonathan 
Hartob  soon  after  the  Restoration      -  38-9 
His    Pecuniary    Position    before    and 
after  the  Restoration                                   39 
The  Concealment  of  the  Poet  on  the 
Restoration,  and  report  of  his  death     -     39 
Lamartine's  belief  of  the  statement           40 
Anecdote  of  his  Interview  with  King 
Charles  II.                                                    ib. 
His  Pardon  by  Charles  II.  viewed              41 
His   Political  Works   ordered    to    be 
burned  by  the  common  hangman          -     ib. 
The  juvenile  and  other  poems  in  the 
Autograph  of  the  Poet  preserved  in  the 
Library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
described       -                                     -  49-95 
The  first,  second,  and  third  editions  of 
the  Poems  of  the  author  enumerated, 
with  the  variations  of  their  contents   -  55-6 
Fac-similes  of  Sonnets  VIII  and  IX 
by  the  Processes  of  the  Electro  Print- 
ing Block  Company                              -  57-8 
On  being  obliged  to  resign  all  idea  of 
marriage   with  Miss   Davis,   the  Poet 
addresses  Sonnet  IX  to  her,  though  he 
does  not  so  inscribe  it     -                   -  58-60 
The  desire  of  the  Poet  for  "fame"  and 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


I 

I'AUE 

"ylory"   recorded  in   a   letter    to    his 
friend,  Carlo  Diodati  -     64 

Altered  his  views  of  "  migrating  into 
some  Inn  of  the  Lawyers  "  -     65 

Orthography   and    punctuation    in   all 
the  editions  of  the  poems  of  Milton,  ac- 
cording to  the  views  of  the  various  editors     66 
The    quaintness   of  language    and   al- 
most total  want  of  punctuation  in  the 
Trinity  College  Manuscript          -         -     ib. 
The    first    ten   lines    of    Book    IV    of 
"Paradise  Lost,"  stated  by  E.  Phillips 
to  have  been  written  many  years  before 
the  poem  was  proceeded  with     -         -     G7 
The   various  editions   of  the    Poetical 
Works  of  Milton        -  71 

Journey  of  the  Poet  to  Italy  in  1638, 
and  return  in  1639     -         -  -     73 

Conceived  the  idea  of  writing  "  Para- 
dise Lost  "  while  in  Italy  -  -     ib. 
Autograph  Inscription  in  the  Album  of 
the  Cardouin  Family  -     ib. 
Lines    on    British    History    from    the 
Silvarum  Liber         -         -                   -  85-6 
Salary  reduced  in  1655  from  £300   a 
year  to  £150     -  -     92 
Fac-similes  of  the  Autograph  Notes  in 
his  copy  of  the  Britannia's  Pastorals 
by  Broivne,  plate  xiv  -     97 
The  Copy  of  the  Pastoral  described  97-104 
His    Copy   of  the    Arati  Phenomena 
described  -   105 
Fac-similes    of  his    Autograph    Notes 
therein,  plate  xiv       -                             -     97 
Fac-simile    of  Autograph    Corrections 
to  his  Monodie,  Lycidas,  to  the  Memorie 
of  Edward  King,  plate  xiv  -     ib. 
Fac-simile  of  Autograph  Inscription  in 
a  Copy  of  the  Mel  Heliconium  by  Rosse, 
plate  xvi  -                             -  -   1 1 1 
Fac-simile  of  Attestation  to  Petition  in 
the  State  Paper  Office,  plate  xvi  -     ib. 
Fac-simile  of  Signature,  1651,  to  an  in- 
scription in  the  Album  of  Christopher 
Arnold  in  the  British  Museum,  plate 
xvi             ...  .     ft 

Fac-simile  of  Autograph  Inscription  in 
a  copy  of  the  Poet's  Treatise  on  Church 
Discipline,  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin     121 
Fac-simile    of    Autograph    Letter    to 
Carlo  Dati         -  -  -122 


Fac-similes   of  the  known   Autograph 
Signatures    on    the    titles    of   various 
printed  books ;  and  all  of  the  Signa- 
tures,  affixed  to  documents  after  his 
blindness,  presumed  to  have  been  au- 
tograph, plate  xviii    -  -  124 
Notes  and  Observations  on  those  Sig- 
natures,   and    upon    the    Documents, 
accompanied  with  illustrations        -   124-42 
The  Manuscript  of  his  Latin  Diction- 
ary -  -  127 
The  First  Idea  of  the  Author  of  this 
work  respecting  the  Autograph  of  the 
Treatise  De  Doctrind  Christiana           -   129 
Letter  recommending  Andrew  Marvell 
to    President    Bradshaw    for   employ- 
ment    -                                                 -  130-1 
The   Period   of  the  Blindness  of  the 
Poet  argued  by  Mr.  Clarence  Hopper      133 
Sale    of  the    Copyright   of  "Paradise 
Lost"  to  Samuel  Simmons  -  135 
Fac-similes  of  the  commencement  of 
the  Deed  and  Signature,  plate  xix       -   134 
Receipts    for   the    Sale   of   "  Paradise 
Lost"                                                   -   137-40 
Fac-similes  of  the  same,  plate  xix        -   134 
DE    DOCTBINA    CHRISTIANA.  —  The 
work  briefly  considered,  with  the  opinion 
of  Macaulay  thereon,  and  the  Preface 
of  the  Author                                  -  142a-53 
The  Autograph  of  the  Work  considered, 
and     accompanied    with    Fac-similes, 
plates  xx,  xxi,  and  xxii                    -   154-64 
His   "  desire   of  honour,    and   repute, 
and  immortal  fame  "    -                   -   142a-2b 
His  early  attachment  to  Poetry  -         -   143 
His   Views   when    at   College   on   the 
Doctrines  of  the  Church                     -  143-4 
LETTERS  OF  STATE. — A  Surreptitious 
Edition,   published    abroad    in    1676, 
supposed    to    have    been    edited    by 
Daniel  Skinner  -   159 
The   fair  copies  in  the  Autograph  of 
D.  Skinner  discovered  by  Mr.  Lemon 
in  the  State  Paper  Office    -  -  160 
Fac-simile   of  the   Attestation   of  D. 
Skinner  respecting  them,  plate  xxiii    -  164 
THE  BLINDNESS  or  THE  POET  con- 
sidered                                              -  167-70 
His    Death,    November    8,    1674,   and 
Burial   -                                              -  167-8 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


Employed  an  Amanuensis  occasionally 
before  he  was  blind  -  -  168 

Entry  of  the  Birth  of  his  Children  on 
the  fly-leaf  of  his  Wife's  Bible  -         -  168 
According  to  Phillips,  totally  blind  on 
his  second  marriage,  November  1656        ib. 
According  to  Toland,  totally  blind  two 
or  three  years  before  that  event;  Lost 
left   eye   in    1651,   and   right   one   in 
1654      -  -  168-9 

Sanguine    as   to   the   recovery   of  his 
sight,  Sept.  1654  -  169-70 

Extract  from   a    Letter   from    Milton 
(published  by  Lamartine  in  1854  for 
the  first  time)  relating  to  his  blindness  1 70 
THE  AMANUENSES  or  THE  POET  CON- 
SIDEBED      -  -  171-95 

THE  DAUOHTEBS  OF  THE  POET     -  174-80 
His  First  Wife  died,  1652  -  174 

MILTON,  Mary,  First  Wife  of  the  Poet. — 

Married,  1643  -  17 

Left  her  Husband  soon  after  -  -  ib. 
Reunited  to  her  Husband,  1645;  Had 
four  children — Anne,  bom  July  29, 
1646;  Mary,  October  25,  1648;  a  son, 
March  16,  1650;  and  Deborah,  May 
1652  ib. 

Account  of  her  Marriage  and  her  leav- 
ing her  Husband,  as  also  the  reconcili- 
ation as  described  by  E.  Phillips        -  20-1 
MILTON,  Catharine. — Second  Wife  of  the 

Poet.— Married,  Nov.  12,1656  -         -  175 
Died  in  Childbed,  Feb.  1658          -  95-175 
Sonnet  by  Milton   "  On  his  Deceased 
Wife"      •  -     95 

Fac-simile  from  the  Trinity  College 
Manuscript  of  a  Portion  of  it,  plate  xiii  95 
MILTON,  Elizabeth,  Third  Wife  of  the 
Poet. — Fac-simile  of  the  Receipt  given 
by  her  for  the  last  payment,  in  1686, 
of  £5  for  the  sale  of  the  copyright  of 
"Paradise  Lost"  -  -  134 

Her  Affection  for  the  Poet,   and  her 
difficult  position  with  his  three  daugh- 
ters      -  -  180-1 
Her    Melancholy    Position    after    the 
Death  of  Milton,  stated  by  Lamartine     183 
MILTON,  Anne,   Eldest   Daughter   of  the 

Poet.— Born  July  26,  1646  -  176 

Fac-simile  of  her  "Mark"  as  Witness 

to  a  Deed,  Feb.  24,  1674  -  -     ib. 


MILTON,  Mary,   Second  Daughter  of  the 

Poet.— Born  Oct.  25,  1648  -  177 

Believed  by  Mr.  Lemon  to  have  assisted 
in  the  revising  and  correcting  the 
manuscript  of  the  De  Doctrind  Chris- 
tiand  -  156 

Fac-simile   of  her   Autograph   Signa- 
ture to  a  Deed,  Feb.  22,  1674     -         -  177 
MILTON,  Deborah,  Youngest  Daughter  of 
the    Poet. — Born,    May    1652;    died 
May  9,  1754     -  -  178 

Believed  by  Mr.  Lemon  to  have  assisted 
in  the  revising  and  correcting  of  the 
De  Doctrind  Christiana  -  -  156 

Her  age  proves  that  not  to  have  been  so  158 
Fac-simile  of  her  Autograph  Signature 
to  a  Deed,  Feb.  22,  1674  -  -   178 

Stated  by  Aubrey  to  have  been  her 
father's  amanuensis  -  171-2 

Fac-simile  of  her   Autograph   Signa- 
ture to  a  Deed,  Feb.  22,  1674  -  179 
Brief  Memoir  of  her  Life,  by  J.  Fitchett 
Marsh,  Esq.  -   178 
MILTON  FAMILY  DOCUMENTS  in  the  Pos- 
session of  John  Fitchett  Marsh,  Esq.  122-3 
MILTON,  John. — Major  of  the  City  of  Lon- 
don Trained  Bands,  1660  -  -  134 
An  Active  Parishioner  of  St.  Dunstan's 
in  the  East        -  -     ib. 
MITCHELL,  Sir  T.  L  —Biographical  Notice  240 
MITFOBD,   Rev.   John — His  Biography  of 
the  Poet,  compiled  from  the  researches 
of  others  -     72 
Probability  of  his  never  having  seen  any 
genuine  Autograph  of  Milton      -         -   136 
Supposes  that  E.  Phillips  assisted  Mil- 
ton in  his  duties  of  Foreign  Secretary     183 
MOBE,  Sir  Thomas. — Honoured  as  a  poet  -       4 
MOBGAN,  Sir  T.  C. — Biographical  Notice  -  241 
MOBICE,  Sir  Wm. — Biographical  Notice     -  241 
MOBLAND,  Sir  S. — Biographical  Notice      -  241 
MOSELY,  Humphry. — His  address  on  Pub- 
lishing the  First  Edition  of  Milton's 
Poems,  1645  12-13 
MUNBO,  Rev.  H.  A.  J.,  of  Trinity  College, 
Camb. — Name  incorrectly  spelt  while 
bearing  testimony  of  aid  received  by  the 
Author  in  the  progress  of  this  work       -     96 
Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xix*  -  1  1 1 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


MTJRCHISON,  Sir  R. — Biographical  Notice     242 
MURRAY,     John. — Autograph     Signature 

when  blindfolded  -  142 

MURRAY,  Rev.  Thomas  Boyles,  F.S.A. — 
Author  of  the  "  Chronicles  of  a  City 
Church"  -  -  -  133 


NAPIER,  Sir  W.  F.  P.— Biographical  Notice  242 
NAPOLF.ON  I.,  Emperor  of  France. — Patron 

of  Literature,  Science  and  Art    -         -       2 
NAPOLEON  III — Ditto          do.  do.  -       2 

NEVILLE,  Thomas. — Vice-Chancellor  of  the 
University  of  Camhridge,  solicits,  1594, 
the  Loan  of  the  Royal  Robes,  to  be 
used  by  the  Players  -  10 

NEWTON,  Sir  Isaac. — Biographical  Notice     242 
NICHOLS,  John. — His  Literary  Anecdotes, 

a  work  affording  intellectual  enjoyment  146 

I 

NICHOLS,  John  Bowyer,  F.S.A. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*  141 
Communication      respecting     Richard 
Royston,  Royal  Printer  to  Charles  I. 
and  II.  -  198-9 

NICHOLS,  John  Gough,  F.S.A  —  Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded  -   142 

NICHOLLS,  Sir  Geo. — Biographical  Notice     243 
NICOLAS,  Sir  N.  H. — Biographical  Notice     243 
NOTES  AND  QUERIES. — A  Literary  and  An- 
tiquarian Publication  -  123 


OCCLEVE,  or  HOCCLEVE,  Thomas. — Ho- 
noured as  a  Poet  -  -  4 

OFFOR,  George. — Copy  of  an  edition  of  the 
Bible,  with  the  name  of  Milton  on  the 
title-page  -  128 

O'ScHAUGHNESST,  Sir  William  Brooke. — 

Biographical  Notice  -  244 

OWEN,  Professor  Richard,  F.R.S.,  etc. — Au- 
tograph Signature  when  blindfolded  -  142 


PALQRATE,  Sir  F. — Biographical  Notice    -  244 
PANIZZI,    Antonio. — Autograph    Signature 

when  blindfolded        -  -   142 

PARADISE  LOST. — Fac-similes  of  the  origi- 
nal Designs  for  the  Poem,  from  the 
Trinity  College  Manuscript,  plate  iv.  -  67 


First  Ten  Lines  of  Book  IV,  stated  by 
E.  Phillips  to  have  been  written  many 
years  before  -  -  67 

Opinion  of  Dr.  Johnson  of  the  merit 
of  Paradise  Lost  -  -  68 

Inquiry  by  Archdeacon  Todd  into  the 
origin  of  the  Poem  -  -  -  72 

The  Sale  of  the  Poem,  reviewed  by  Dr. 
Johnson  and  Archdeacon  Todd  -  77-9 

Note  of  the  issues  of  the  first  four  edi- 
tions of  the  Poem     -  -  81-3 
Summary  of  the  Variations  in  the  Title 
Pages  of  nine  issues  of  \hefirst  edition 
of  the  Poem  -  83-4 
Errata  in  the  First  Edition,  noticed  by 
Capel  Lofft  84 
Variations  in  the  Title  Pages  of  the 
First  Edition,  noticed  by  the  Rev.  John 
Mitford     -                                              -     84 
Assignment  of  the  Copyright  by  Mil- 
ton to  Samuel  Simmons                     -  135-7 
Fac-similes  of  the  Receipt  of  the  second 
and  third  Payments  for  the  sale  thereof, 
plate  xix                                                 -  134 
Fac-simile  of  Two  Pages  of  the  Manu- 
script of  the  First  Book  sent  to  be  li- 
censed, with  fac-simile  also  of  the  "  Im- 
primatur,"  plate  xxv                             -  196 
Description  and  account  of  the  Manu- 
script                                              -  196-204 
Copy  of  the  Entry  of  the  Poem  in  the 
Register  of  the  Stationers'  Company   -  197 
The  Original  Contract  for  the  Sale  of 
the  Poem  to  Symmons,  formerly  in  the 
possession  of  the  Tonsons,  subsequently 
surreptitiously  passing  to  Mr.  Mackie 
and  to  Mr.  Prowett,  thence  to  Mr.  Picker- 
ing, Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  and  Samuel 
Rogers  the  Poet.      It  is  now  in  the 
British  Museum     -                            -  200-4 

PARADISE  REGAINED. — Note  of  the  First 

Five  Editions    -  -     83 

Remarkable  lines  at  the  close  of  the 
Poem  -  -  194 

The  opinion  of  Dr.  Johnson  on  the  me- 
rits of  the  Poem  -  -  194-5 

PARKER,  Mathew,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury.— His  Collection  of  Manuscripts 
in  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge  96 

PARRY,  Sir  Wm.  E. — Biographical  Notice     244 

PASLEY,  Sir  C.  W. — Biographical  Notice  -  245 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


PATRICK,  Mrs. — Proprietor  of  the  copy  of 
Britannia's  Pastorals  by  Browne,  with 
Autograph  Notes  by  Milton,  purchased 
by  her  deceased  husband  of  Mr.  Waller  98 

PAXTON,  Sir  Joseph,  M.P.,etc. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded  -142 

Biographical  Notice  -  245 

PETIT,  Rev.  John  Louis,  F.S.A.,  etc. — Auto- 
graph Signature  when  blindfolded  -  142 

PETO,  Sir  Samuel  M. — Biographical  Notice  245 

PETTIGREW,  T.  J.,  F.S.A. — Autograph  Sig- 
nature when  blindfolded,  plate  six*  -  141 

PETTY,  Sir  William. — Biographical  Notice    246 

PHILANTHROPY. — Its  frequent  absence  in 
those  who  have  been  specially  favoured 
by  Providence  with  the  good  things  of 
this  World  -  -  48 

PHILLIPS,  Edward. — The  Elder  Nephew  of 
Milton.  Memoir  of  his  Uncle  affixed 
to  the  "  Letters  of  State,"  1694  18 

Account  of  the  First  Marriage  of  his 
Uncle      -  -  20-1 

The  Biography  of  his  Uncle  praised  by 
Sir  Egerton  Brydges  -     23 

Particulars  and  Errors  by  Phillips  no- 
ticed -     24 
Krror  respecting  the  date  of  the  First 
Edition  of  Paradise  Lost    -  -     24 
First  Ten  Lines  of  Book  IV,   written 
many  years  before  the  Poem  was  pro- 
ceeded with       -  -     67 
Believed  by  Mr.  Lemon  to  have  tran- 
scribed a  portion  of  the  De  Doctrind 
Chrittiand                                               -  156 
Autograph  Inscription  in  a  Presenta- 
tion Copy  of  his  edition  of  Sir  R.  Ba- 
ker's Chronicle,  to  the  Bishop  of  London  165 
Considered  by  Aubrey  to  have  been  the 
Amanuensis  of  his  Uncle  while  com- 
posing Paradise  Lost                              -   171 
His    relation   of    the  Composition  of 
Paradise  Lost   -  -   173 
Account    of    the    Education    of    the 
Daughters  of  Milton        -                  -  175-6 
His  Opinion  of  their  Talent  -  179 
Supposed  by  the  Rev.  John  Mitford  to 
have  assisted  his  Uncle  in  his  Duties 
as  Foreign  Secretary           -                  -  183 
Left  his  Uncle  in  1646,  and  in  1651  en- 
tered Magdalen  Hall,  Oxford      -         -  184 


Wrote  a  Copy  of  Complimentary  Verses 
affixed  to  the  First  Book  of  Ayres,  by 
Henry  Lawes,  1653  -  -  184 

Fac-similes  of  his  Autograph,  plate 
xxiv  -  189 

PHILLIPS,  John,  The  younger  Nephew  of 
Milton. — Extract  from  the  Memoir  of 
him  by  Godwin  -  -  189-90 

Fac-simile  of  his  Autograph  Signature, 
plate  xxiv  -  -  190 

PICKERING,  William,  Bookseller. — Believed 
to  have  considered  the  Manuscript  Notes 
in  the  copy  of  the  Britannia's  Pastorals 
as  the  Autograph  of  Milton  -  98 

Purchaser  of  some  Milton  Family  Pa- 
pers, at  the  sale  of  Mr.  Anderdon's  Col- 
lection     -  -  123 
Purchaser  of  the  Deed  of  Assignment 
of  Paradise  Lost         -  -  1 35 
His  belief  in  the  Signature  to  the  Deed 
being  the  Autograph  of  the  Poet          -  136 

PITT,  Moyses Possessor  at  one  time  of  the 

Autograph  Latin  Dictionary  compiled 
by  Milton  -  127 

PLAYERS. — Regarded  as  Rogues  and  Vaga- 
bonds      -  -       7 
PLAYFAIU,  Dr.  Lyon. — Biographical  Notice  246 
POETS. — Varying     Orthography    of     their 

Names      -  -  -         -       6 

PORTER,  Sir  R.  K. — Biographical  Notice  -  246 
POWELL,  Mary. — Married  to  Milton,  1643  17 
POWELL,  Richard.  Married  his  daughter 

Mary  to  Milton,  1643  -     ib. 

POYNDER,  John. — Former  Possessor  of  the 
Copy  of  the  Arati  Phenomena,  with 
autograph  notes  by  Milton  -  105 

PRICE,  Sir  Uvedale. — Biographical  Notice    247 
PKINOLE,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice      247 
PROWETT,   Samuel. — The   purchaser   from 
some  unknown  person,  through  Mr.  F. 
Mackie,  of  the  Original  Contract  for 
the  sale  of  the  Copyright  of  Paradise 
Lost  to  Simmons        -  -  204 

PUCKERING,  Sir  Thomas — Bequeathed  his 
Library,  including  many  volumes  which 
had  belonged  to  the  renowned  Prince 
Henry,  to  Trinity  College  Library,  Cam- 
bridge -  -  50 
PULHAM,  James  Brook. — The  enthusiastic 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


Collector   of    the   Works    of    George 
Wither     -  -   107 

RAEBURN,  Sir  Henry. — Biographical  Notice  248 
RAFFLES,  Sir  T.  S. — Biographical  Notice      248 
RAWLINSON,  SirH.C. — Biographical  Notice  248 
REID,  Sir  William. — Biographical  Notice      249 
RENNIE,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice      249 
REYNOLDS,  Sir  J. — Biographical  Notice     -  249 
RICH,  Arthur. — Autograph  Signature  when 

blindfolded        -  -   142 

RICHARDSON,  Samuel. — Anecdote  respect- 
ing Paradise  Lost     -  -         -  78-9 
RICHARDSON,  Sir  J. — Biographical  Notice    2cO 
ROBERTS,  Arthur. — Present  Possessor  of  the 
Copy  of  the  Amoroso  Convivio  of  Dante, 
1527,  with  the  Autograph  Signature  of 
Milton      -  -  124 
ROGERS,  Samuel,  the  Poet — Purchaser  in 
1831    of  the   Deed  of  Assignment  of 
Paradise  Lost  to  S.  Simmons       -          -   135 
His  delight  in  showing  to  his  Visitors 
his  Works  of  Art  and  the  Milton  Docu- 
ment                                                          -   136 
ROGUES  and  Vagabonds. — Players  vulgarly 

so  called  ------       7 

ROLLE,  Lord. — Copy  of  Heraclides  Pontici, 
in  the  library  at  Stevenstone,  with  the 
Autograph  Signature  of  Milton  -         -  125 
Ross,  Sir  James  C. — Biographical  Notice      250 
Ross,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice         -  251 
Ross,  Sir  Wm.  Chas. — Biographical  Notice  251 
ROSSE,  Alexander. — Mel  Heliconium,  with 

Autograph  Verses  by  Milton  -   111-12 

Fac-simile  of  the  Verses,  plate  xvi       -   111 
Rous,  John  — His  Presentation  Copy  of  the 
First  Edition  of  the  Poems  of  Milton, 
with  Autograph  and  Inscription      -   113-19 
Presentation  Copies  of  the  Polemical 
Treatises  by  Milton  -   119-20 

RUSSELL,  John   Scott. — Autograph  Signa- 
ture when  blindfolded,  plate  six*         -   141 
RUSSELL,  William  Henry.— .Autograph  Sig- 
nature when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*    -  141 

ST.  JOHN,  J.  A. — Omits  to  notice  the  Recon- 
ciliation of  Milton  to  his  Wife    -         -     18 
Considers  Toland  to   have  edited  the 
"  Letters  of  State,"  1694  -     19 


SAMS,  Joseph. — The  Antiquarian  and  Book- 
seller of  Darlington.  A  Fabrication 
of  Scarabaeus  of  Gold  in  his  Collection 
of  Egyptian  Antiquities  -  -  126 

SAMSON   AGONISTES. — First   published    in 
1671   as   an  addition  to  Paradise  Re- 
gained      -  -     75 
SANDFOBD,     Sir    D.    K.  —  Biographical 

Notice      -  -  252 

SCHOMBUROK,  Sir  R. — Biographical  Notice  252 
SCOTCH  STORIES. — Fac-simile  of  Page  41  of 

the  Trinity  College  Manuscript,  plate  x     87 
SCOTT,  Sir  Walter. — Biographical  Notice  -  252 
SCRIPTURAL  TRAGEDIES. — Fac-similes   of 
pages  36,  39  and  40,  from  the  Trinity 
College  Manuscript,  plates  v,  vi  and  vii     84 
SEPPINGS,  Sir  R. — Biographical  Notice     -  253 
SHAKESPEARE,    William.  —  Dedication   to 
the  Earl  of  Southampton  of  his  "  Venus 
and  Adonis"     -  -       5 

"  Amicable"  Letter  from  James  I        -       6 
Various  modes  of  spelling  his  name     -     ib. 
Different  Publishers  of  the  first  edition 
of  his  Plays       -  83 

SHEE,  Sir  Martin  A. — Biographical  Notice    254 
SHERBTJRNE,  Sir  Ed. — Biographical  Notice  254 
SHREWSBURY,   Earl   of. — Commanded   by 
Queen    Mary    to    look    after    certain 
Players     -  -       7 

Proceedings  against  the  Players  -     ib. 

SHUTTLE-WORTH,  Sir  J.  Phillips  Kay. — 
Biographical  Notice,  seeKAY-SnuTTLE- 
AVORTH  -  -  235 

SIBBALD,  Sir  Robt. — Biographical  Notice     254 
SIDNEY,  Sir  Philip. — Appointment  at  Court       5 
SIMMONS,  Samuel. — The  Publisher  of  Pa- 
radise Lost. — Assignment  of  the  Copy- 
right to  him  by  Milton    -  -   135-7 
SIMPSON,  Sir  George. — Biographical  Notice  254 
SINCLAIR,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice    255 
SINGER,    Samuel  Weller.  —  Former    Pos- 
sessor of  an  Excise  Document  bearing 
the  Signature  of  Milton,  dated  1660       129 
The  Signature  in  the  same  autograph 
as  employed  in  part  of  the  De  DoctrinA 
Christiana  -  140 
SKELTON,  John. — Honoured  as  a  Poet        -       4 
Same  Editions  of  his  Poems,  with  se- 
veral names  as  the  publishers      -  83 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


SKINNER,  Cyriack  — Fac-simile  from  the 
Trinity  College  Manuscript  of  the  Son- 
net No.  XXII,  by  Milton,  on  his  own 
blindness,  plate  xiii  -  -  95 

Excise  Document  with    Signature  by- 
Milton  to  a  Bond  for  £400,  dated  1660  129 
Fac-simile  of  the  Signature,  plate  xviii  124 
Supposed  by  Wood  to  have  been  en- 
trusted by  Milton  with  Manuscript  of 
the  De  Doctriiid  Christiana  -  156 

SKINNEB,  Daniel. — His  Autograph  Initials 
D.  S.  on  the  Title  page  of  Milton's 
copy  of  Beck's  Euripides,  plate  xv        -  108 
Transcriber  of  the  First  Portion  of  the 
De  DoctrinA  ChristianA      -  -  158 

Supposed  to  have  been  the  Editor  of  a 
Surreptitious  Edition  in  1676  of  Mil- 
ton's Letters  of  State.     The  compila- 
tion thereof  -  159-60 
Fac-simile  of  Autograph  Signature  from 
the  Graduation  Book  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  plate  xx  -  -  162 
Fac-simile  of  his  Attestation  respect- 
ing the  Manuscript  of  the  Letters  of 
State,  plate  xxiii        -  -  164 
Si, i,i. MAN,  Sir  W.  H. — Biographical  Notice  255 
SLOANE,  Sir  Hans. — Biographical  Notice  -  255 
SMIBEE,  Sir  Robert. — Biographical  Notice   256 
SMITH,  William  James. — Note  on  the  Sig- 
nature of  Milton  to  a  Document  dated 
1654,  in  the  Ashburnham,  late  Stowe, 
collection  of  Manuscripts    -                  -  128 
SMITH,  Sir  Jas.  E. — Biographical  Notice       256 
SOANE,  Sir  John. — Biographical  Notice      -  256 
SOMEBSET    HOUSE.  —  Wilful    Destruction 
there  of  the  Historical  Documents  of 
the  Country       -  -  107 
SONNET  by  the  Poet  "  On  his  being  arrived 
at  the  age  of  23." — Fac-simile  from  the 
Trinity   College   Manuscript,   plate   i, 
No.  II      -  -     52 
SOTHEBT,  John,  Bookseller. — Successor  to 

Samuel  Baker  -  -  201 

SOTHEBY,  Samuel,  Auctioneer  of  Literary 
Property. — Successor  to  the  firm  of 
Leigh  and  Sotheby  -  -  ib. 

SOTHEBY,  F.S.A.,  Samuel  Leigh,  Auctioneer 
of  Literary  Property  and  Works  con- 
nected with  the  Fine  Arts. — Work  on 


the  Autograph  of  Luther  and  Melan- 
chthon      -  -       6 

Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded  142 
SOUTH,  Sir  James. — Biographical  Notice  -  257 
SPENSEB,    Edmund,    the    Poet. — Appoint- 
ment at  Court  -  5 
STATE  PAPER   OFFICE. — Order  Books   of 
the  Council  recording  the  appointment 
of  the  Poet  as  Latin  Secretary     -         -     33 
Fac-simile  of  Subscription  to  the  Peti- 
tion  of    John   Milton,     1680,    among 
"  The  Composition  Papers"  plate  xvi      111 
STEELE,  Sir  Richard. — Biographical  Notice  257 
STEPHEN,  Sir  James. — Biographical  Notice  257 
SiEPHENSON,-Sir  Robert. — Burial  in  West- 
minster Abbey  -                                     -       4 
STEPHENSON,  Sir  R.  M. — Biographical  No- 
tice                                                          -  258 
STEVENSON,  Sir  J.  A. — Biographical  Notice  258 
STODDABT,  Sir  Jno. — Biographical  Notice     258 
STBAHAN,  Rev.  George.  —  Editor  of  the 
Prayers  and  Meditations  of  Dr.  John- 
son -                                                         -  145 
STBANGE,  Sir  Robt. — Biographical  Notice     258 
STBUTT,  Jacob   George.  —  Translation   of 
Lines  on  British  History  from  the  Syl- 
varum  Liber  and  Epitaphium  Damonis  85-7 
SUMNEB,  Charles  R.,  Bishop  of  Winches- 
ter.— Quotation  from  his  "  Treatise  on 
Christian  Doctrine,"  relating  to  the  oc- 
cupation of  Milton  on  Sundays  -         -     11 
Assistance   received   in   his  Miltonian 
labours  from  Mr.  Lemon    -                   -     34 
Opinion  on  the  merits  of  the  De  Doc- 
trinA ChristianA        -                             -   142b 
Commanded  by  King   George   IV   to 
translate  the  De  DoctrinA  ChristianA      147 
His  account  of  the  discovery  of  the 
Work  and  of  its  Autograph     -         -  155-7 
Believed  Cyriac  and  not  Daniel  Skin- 
ner was  entrusted  by  Milton  with  the 
manuscript  of  the  De  DoctrinA  Chris- 
tianA                                                          -   158 
SUMNEB,  Rev.  Charles. — Present  Possessor 

of  the  Cardoyn  Album        -  -  107 

SUNDAY. — Court  Day  for  the  Drama  during 

the  Reign  of  Elizabeth  9 

Representations  forbidden  on  Sundays 

in  1583,  but  resumed  again  in  1592    -       9 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


SYLVAEUM   LIBEE — Lines  78  to   88   on 

British  History  -  85-7 

SYMONDS,  Sir  Wm. — Biographical  Notice      259 
SYMMONS,  Charles. — On  the  Autobiography 

of  Milton          ...  -25 


T.  J.  —  Extract  from  "The  Traytor's  Per- 
spective Glass,"  1662,  relating  to  the 
Blindness  of  the  Poet  -  41 

TASSO,    Torquato.  —  Intended    Elucidation 

of  his  Autograph  by  the  Author  -     50 

TEMPLE,  Sir  Wm. — Biographical  Notice    -  259 

TENNENT,  Sir  James  Emerson. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  six*  141 
Biographical  Notice  -     259 

TETRACHOBDON. — Fac-simile  of  a  Sonnet 
thereon  from  page  47  of  the  Trinity 
College  Manuscript,  plate  xii  -  -  89 

THACKERAY,  William  Makepeace — Appli- 
cation of  the  Processes  of  the  Elec- 
tro-Printing Block  Company  to  his 
Artistic  Talent  -  15 

Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xix*  -  141 

THOBNHILL,  Sir  J. — Biographical  Notice     260 

THOEPE,  Thomas. — Purchaser  of  the  Car- 

doyn  Album      -  -  107 

Purchaser  of  some  "  Milton  Family 
Papers"  at  the  sale  of  the  Library  of 
James  Boswell  -  -  122-3 

TITE,  William,  M.P.,  etc — Possessor  of  a 
Copy  of  Rosse's   "  Mel  Heliconium," 
with  verses  in  the  Autograph  of  Milton  112 
Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xix*  -   141 

TODD,  Archdeacon. — Assistance  received  by 
him  in  his  Miltonian  Researches  from 
Mr.  Lemon  -  -  34 

Inquiry  into  the  origin  of  Paradise  Lost     72 
Mention  of  the  Trinity  College  Manu- 
script       -  -     74 
On  the  sale  of  Paradise  Lost     -         -  78-9 
On  the  cause  of  Milton  composing  Son- 
net XII    -  -     89 
On  the  Character  of  Sir  Henry  Vane  -     91 
Omission  to  print  in   full  the   Docu- 
ments  connected  with  Milton   in   the 


State   Paper    Office   as   sent    by   Mr. 
Lemon     -  -  154 

TOLAND,  John Considered  by  Mr.  A.  St. 

John  to  have  been  the  Author  of  the 

"  Letters  of  State,"  1694   -  19 

Omits  in  his  Life  of  Milton  the  name 

of  the  Amanuensis  employed  by  him  -     23 

Records  that   Milton  received  £1000 

for  his  Answer  to  Salmasius        -         -     33 

TONSON,  Jacob. — The  Contract  for  the  sale 
of  the  Copyright  of  Paradise  Lost  by 
Milton  to  Symmons,  formerly  in  the 
possession  of  the  Tonsons  -  200 

TOWEE  OF  LONDON. — The  careless  removal 

of  the  Historical  Documents       -         -  107 

TEINITY  COLLEGE  LiBEAEY,Cambridge. — 
see  CAMBEIDGE. 

TUPPEE,  G.  J.  F.,  Lithographic  Artist. — 
His  opinion  of  the  substance  of  the 
Passages  obliterated  in  the  Order  Book 
of  the  Council  of  State  respecting  the 
amount  ordered  to  be  paid  to  Milton 
for  his  Answer  to  Salmasius      -         -  34-5 
His  Fac-similes  of  the  Passages,  plate  A     35 
Autograph  Signature  when  blindfolded, 
plate  xix*          -  -  141 

TUBNEE,  Dawson,  F.S.A. — The  Fac-simile 
of  the  Milton  Receipts  for  Paradise 
Lost,  sold  in  his  Collection  as  bearing 
genuine  Autograph  and  Signatures  of 
Milton  and  his  Widow  -  -  137-40 

TYPOGEAPHICAL  EEEOES  IN  THE  PEE- 
SENT  WOEK. — Was  there  any  work 
ever  published  that  did  not  contain 
numerous  Typographical  Errors?  Er- 
rors, that,  if  attributed  to  the  author  of 
the  work,  would  at  once  injure  his  re- 
putation. Nobody  but  those  who  have 
the  correcting  of  the  press  can  be  the 
least  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  avoiding 
them.  It  is  one  of  the  most  annoying 
circumstances  to  which  every  author  is 
subject.  Among  the  many  errors  of  com- 
mission and  omission  on  the  part  of 
the  author  in  reading  the  proofs  are — 
MONEO  in  lieu  of  MUNEO  -  96 

NEEDHAM,   of  Kimbolton,  in  lieu   of 
BEEDHAM  -  110 

MOYES  PITT  in  lieu  of  MOYSES  PITT      127 

and 
MANY  OTHEES. 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS. 


UPTON,  John,  the  editor  of  Epictetus. — His 
copy  of  the  Arati  Phenomena,  with 
Autograph  Notes  of  his  own  and  those 
of  Milton  -  105 

VAKBRUGH,    Sir   J. — Biographical   Notice  260 

VANE,   Sir  Henry. — Fac-simile  of  Sonnet 
XVII,  from  the  Trinity  College  Manu- 
script, plate  xiii  -     94 
His  character  by  Archdeacon  Todd      -     ib. 

VENUS   AND  ADONIS,  by  Shakespeare.— 

Dedication  of  the  First  Edition,  1593         5 
Copy  in  the  Bodleian  Library      -         -     ib. 

VBRTUE,  George. — His  copy  of  the  fourth 
issue  of  the  first  edition  of  Paradise 
Lost  -  81 

WALKER,  Sir  B.  W.— Biographical  Notice  260 

WALLER,  E.,  the  Poet. — Alienation  of  his 

Royalty    -  -     13 

WALLER,  Mr. — Bookseller.— Purchaser  of 
the  copy  of  Browne's  "Britannia's  Pas- 
torals," with  Autograph  Notes  by  Mil- 
ton -  -  97 

WARTON,  Dr.  Thomas. — Considered   Mil- 
ton to  have  been   divorced   from   his 
wife          -         -         -         -         •         -18 
Notice  of  the  juvenile  and  other  poems 
in  the  autograph  of  Milton  in  Trinity 
College  Library,  Cambridge        -         -     49 
Considered  Sonnet  XVI  in  the  Trinity 


College  Manuscript  to  be  in  a  Female 
Hand  -     91 

WECKHBRLYN,  Thomas — Latin  Secretary 

previous  to  Milton     -         -         -         -  131 
WEBSTER,    Benjamin. — Autograph    Signa- 
ture when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*        -  141 
WESTMACOTT,  Sir  R. — Biographical  Notice  260 
WHISTON,  John,  Bookseller — Former  Pos- 
sessor of  the  copy  of  Beck's  Euripides, 
with  Autograph  Notes  by  Milton         -   108 
WILKIE,  Sir  David. — Biographical  Notice     261 
WILKINS,  Sir  Chas. — Biographical  Notice    261 
WILKINSON,     John,     F.S.A. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*  141 
WILKINSON,  Sir  J.  G — Biographical  Notice  262 
WINSTANLEY,  William. — On  the  Memory 

of  the  Poet  41 

The  earning  of  "  immortal  fame  "      -  142b 
WOOD,     Anthony    A.  —  Considered    that 
Cyriack  in  lieu  of  Daniel  Skinner  was 
entrusted  by  Milton  with  the  Manu- 
script of  the  De  Doctrind  Christiand    -   156 
WHAXALL,  Sir  N.  W. — Biographical  Notice  262 
WREN,  Sir  C.— Biographical  Notice  -  262 

WRIGHT,     Thomas,     F.S.A.  —  Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*  141 
WYAT,  Sir  Thomas. — Honoured  as  a  Poet  4 
WYATT,  M.  Digby,  F.S.A. — Autograph 

Signature  when  blindfolded,  plate  xix*  141 
WYATVILLE,  Sir  J. — Biographical  Notice  263 


INDEX     TO     THE    FAC-SIMILES 

OF 

THE   AUTOGRAPH   OF    MILTON. 


PLATE  PAGE 

A.  FOUR  EXTRACTS  from  the  Book  of 
Orders  of  the  Council  of  State  touch- 
ing the  Appointment  of  Milton  as 
Latin  Secretary,  and  also  the  intended 
grant  for  his  Answer  to  Salmasius 

opposite  36 

I.  THE  FIRST  PAGE  OF  ARCADES,  from  the 
Original  Autograph  Volume  of  the 
"JUVENILE  POEMS"  of  MILTON  in 
Trinity  College  Library;  also,  the 
SONNET  on  his  Twenty-third  Birthday, 
from  the  same  volume  -  ib.  52 

77.  THE  FIRST  PAGE  or  COMUS,  from  the 

same  volume  -  -  ib.  60 

III.  THE  FIRST  PAGE  OF  LYCIDAS,  from 

the  same  volume        -  -      ib.     62 

IV.  THE  THREE  OUTLINES  for  the  Epic 
Poem  PARADISE  LOST,  from  the  same 
volume     -  ib.     68 

V.  VI,  and   VII.  OUTLINES    OF    SCRIP- 
TURAL TRAGEDIES,  forming  pages  36, 

39,  and  40  in  the  same  volume    -      ib.     84 
FIH,  IX,  and  X.  OUTLINES  OF  BRITISH 
TRAGEDIES  and  SCOTCH  STORIES,  form- 
ing pages  37,  38,  and  41  in  the  same 
volume      -         -  -      ib.     86 

XL  SONNETS  XI,  XII,  and  XIII,  from  the 

same  volume     -  -      ib.     88 

XII.  SONNETS  IX,  XII,  and  XV,  from  the 
same  volume       -  -     ib.     90 

XIII.  SONNETS  XIII,  XXII,  and  XXIII, 
from  the  same  volume  -      ib.     94 

XIV. — i.  MARGINAL  NOTES  from  a  copy  of 
BRITANNIA'S  PASTORALS  by  BROWNE. 
ii.  MARGINAL  NOTES  from  a  copy 
of  ARATI  PHENOMENA. 
in.  MARGINAL  NOTES  from  a  copy  of 
LYCIDAS. 

iv.  INSCRIPTION    in    the   ALBUM    of 
CAMILLUS  CARDOYN          -         -      ib.     98 


PLATE  PAGE 

XV.  MARGINAL  NotES   from   a   copy   of 

BECK'S  EURIPIDES   -  -      ib.  108 

XVI. — i.  INSCRIPTION  in  a  copy  of  MEL 
HELICONIUM,  by  Rosse. 
ii,   and  in.    ATTESTATION  and  SIG- 
NATURES to  the  PETITION  of  the  Poet 
in  the  State  Paper  Office, 
iv.    INSCRIPTION   in   the   ALBUM   of 
CHRISTOPHER  ARNOLD      -         -      ib.  112 

X  VII.  MANUSCRIPT  POEM  to  DR.  ROTJS  on 
a  Presentation  Copy  of  the  First  Edi- 
tion of  the  POEMS  of  MILTON  -  ib.  114 

XVIII. — i.andn.  SIGNATURES  of  MILTON 
in  various  Printed  Books  and  Docu- 
ments, ib. 

in.  SIGNATURES  of  MAJOR  JOHN 
MILTON. 

iv.  COMMENCEMENT  and  ENDING  of 
a  LETTER  from  MILTON  to  PRESI- 
DENT BRADSHAW,  ib.  -  124 

XIX. — i.  COMMENCEMENT  and  ENDING  of 
the  Deed  of  Assignment  of  the  Sale  of 
PARADISE  LOST. 

ii.  RECEIPT  for  the  SECOND  FIVE 
POUNDS  for  the  Copyright  of  PARA- 
DISE LOST. 

in.  RECEIPT  of  ELIZABETH  MILTON 
for  all  further  claim  in  the  Copyright  of 
PABADISE  LOST  ...  ib.  136 

XIX*.  FORTY-THREE  SIGNATURES,  chiefly 
of  Men  distinguished  in  Literature, 
Science,  and  Art,  written  by  them 
when  BLINDFOLDED  -  ib.  141 

XX,  XX7,  and  XXII.  FIFTEEN  SPECI- 
MENS of  the  VARIOUS  STYLES  in  which 
the  ORIGINAL  MANUSCRIPT  of  the 
TREATISE  DE  DOCTRINA  CHRISTIANA 
of  Milton  is  executed,  including  the 
whole  of  pages  183,  197,  and  552  ib.  162 

XXIII. — i,  ii,  and  in.  ATTESTATIONS  of 


INDEX  TO  FAC-SIMILES. 


PLATE  PAGE 

DANIEL  SKINNEB,  DANIEL  ELSEVIB, 
and  ISAAC  BAKEOW  respecting  the 
MANTJSCBIPT  of  the  DE  DOCTBINA 
CHRISTIANA. 

IT  and  v.  SIGNATURE  of  MILTON,  with 
Specimens  from  the  Manuscript  DE 
DOCTBINA  CHBISTIANA"  in  the  writing 
of  the  same  Amanuensis  -  -  ib.  164 

XXIV. — I,  ii,  and  in.  SPECIMENS  of  the 
AUTOGBAPH  of  EDWABD   and  JOHN 


PLATE  PAGE 

PHILLIPS,  the  Nephews  of  Milton,  and 
of  ANDBEW  MAKVELL       -         -      ib.   190 
XXV.— i,  and  n.  THE  FIBST  PAGE  and 
Part   of  Another   of   the    Manuscript 
Copy  of  the  FIBST  BOOK  of  PABADISE 
LOST  sent  to  receive  the  License   to 
print  it  from  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury. 
in.  The  License  to  print  the  same,  ib.  196 


FAC-SIMILES    MADE     INTO    SURFACE    BLOCKS 

BY   THE   PROCESSES   OP   THE 

ELECTRO    PRINTING   BLOCK    COMPANY. 


14.  SONNET  written  by  Milton  on  the  anni- 
versary of  his  twenty-third  birthday. 

57.  SONNET  VIII. 

58.  SONNET  IX. 
91.  SONNET  XVI. 

115.  SPECIMENS  of  the  EABLY  ATJTOGBAPH  of 
the  celebrated  HENBT  PBINCE  or 
WALES,  Eldest  Son  of  James  I. 

120.  INSCBIPTION  in  the  ATJTOGBAPH  of  MIL- 

TON inscribed  to  Dr.  Rous  in  a  volume 
in  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 

121.  INSCBIPTION  in  the  ATJTOGBAPH  of  Milton. 

122.  COMMENCEMENT  and  ENDING  of  an  Auto- 


graph Letter  from  MILTON  to  CABLO 
DATI. 

142.  TEN  AUTOGBAPH  SIGNATURES  written 
BLINDFOLDED,  original  size,  and  re- 
duced from  the  same  in  four  surface 
blocks,  one-half,  one-third,  one-quarter, 
and  one-eighth. 

176.  The  SIGNATURE  or  MARK  of  ANN  MIL- 

TON, the  Eldest  Daughter  of  the  Poet. 

177.  The    SIGNATURE  of  MARY  MILTON,   the 

Second  Daughter  of  the  Poet. 

178.  The  SIGNATUBES  of  Abraham  Clarke  and 

of  DEBORAH,  the  Youngest  Daughter  of 
the  Poet. 


U.C.BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


